Fluidity
by XxEviXkittenxX
Summary: In which Lance and Keith aren't human, The lions need their Paladins, and Trust is not easily given when you are Galra. Can Allura accept another Galra as a Paladin of Voltron? Can Lance and Keith risk everything they know and love to help her? The lions may have chosen them, but they never chose the lions. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction after all.
1. Teaser

Okay, so this is kinda like a preview chapter, kinda testing the waters. This is only the second time I have ever tried writing for the Voltron fandom at all, but it is the first thing I will actually be posting for it. Crossing my fingers here.

Please please please comment if you like it or think it's interesting, I'm super unsure about how to go about writing for this fandom and I need all the help I can get.

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The alarms were blazing, she needed to find her paladins, and fast. They couldn't hold off this attack much longer without them.

"Princess, we can't afford to send the lions out in this kind of firefight! What if one of them is caught? Or if this ship follows them and endangers another planet? Or worse, sends other ships after them!"

"We don't have a choice Coran! The lions need their paladins and we don't have time to search for them one at a time like we have been." Allura ran from the bridge to the lift as fast as she could, "Keep defending the castle, I will let the lions out one at a time. Hopefully that will be enough that that Galra ship won't know what we're doing." She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She pressed the button to descend to the hangers and tried with all her might to will it to go faster. Time was of the essence and they didn't have much of it to begin with. She ran from the lift as soon the doors were open. The Blue lion's hanger was the closest, she'd start there. She entered the hanger and took in the sight of the magnificent beast, the particle barrier separating them shining in the artificial light of her bay. She walked up to the barrier and placed her palm to it, projecting her voice into her Lion's heart.

 _"Mighty Blue lion of Voltron, we are loath to do this this way, but I must send you out to find your destined paladin on your own. Return to us as soon as you have found them. I fear our ship may not hold, but you are fast and smart. Blue lion of Voltron, you must protect us. Find someone pure and courageous, someone worthy of you. Someone who can save us all."_ She pressed her forehead to the barrier. _"I will open the bay doors soon, as soon as I do, fly, swifter than the wind. Steadier than the waves. Find your Paladin. And the Gods be willing, let him accept this awful request."_ Blue purred directly into her mind, trying soothing her. She seemed to understand what Allura wanted her to do.

Allura ran over to the manual bay door controls and set the gravity settings so that she wouldn't be sucked out into the vacuum of space once the doors were open. Once done, she looked back to the mighty Blue lion, She had lowered her barrier and was waiting patiently for Allura to let her out. "Be safe." She whispered under her breath as she pressed the button and the large doors began to open. This had to work. "Return soon, please." were the last words she uttered as she watched Blue fly out into the blackness of space, to even the Gods new not where. She was indeed fast, and before Allura could blink, she was gone. One down, four more to go.

"Princess, the Blue lion is out of this galactic quadrant already! I don't think the Galra ship noticed her, but I would wait on sending the others too soon after, just in case." Came Coran's voice over the intercoms. Allura let out a sigh of relief. As long as they could do this undetected, they would be fine.

"I understand, I'm moving on to the Red lion, inform me when there is another opening." She answered strongly as she closed Blue's hanger doors and ran to the next one over.

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Okay, so this bit takes place roughly between chapters four and five, so the next couple chapters will seem different. Just a heads up.

~ Evi


	2. The beginning

Before Allura sent our the lions, let's start from the beginning.

It was supposed to be just another normal day. Why did it have to turn out like this?

* * *

Okay, so this is the first chapter of Fluidity, I'm not going to promise a regular update schedule, because I really can't do that. I can promise you that I am working on more than just one chapter at a time (Which is new for me, I'm usually a post as I go kind of writer) and that I do have more written out, I just don't have more finished to the point where I like it enough to post.

Please, this is my first posted fic for the Voltron fandom, I need critical feedback. I don't care if it's a page and half of what you think I did horribly on, I just want real opinions so I know if I'm striking out here or not.

This is a slight AU, so the characters may seem a tiny bit OOC compared to canon, but I am trying to keep them as close as possible while still putting my own little spin on them.

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The young prince of Prata Neptunia watched out the window as the Galra ship docked at the port across the cityscape. The ship was the standard steel grey with purple lights and red accents. He would always be able to pick out a Galra ship with just a single glance. Many had been docking in Maritimus lately. Many more than he was comfortable with. He bit at his lower lip, worrying it between his sharp teeth gently. His bright blue eyes scanned the docks, trying to see if he could make out anything that could possibly be a threat. It was in vain though, the castle stood too far away from the pier for even his keen eyes to notice anything out of the ordinary.

He sighed. Well, as long as he didn't have to worry about an attack, he would allow the fuzzy purple menaces to stay. Not that it was his call yet, but his parents had been trying to teach him tolerance. You can't judge an entire race or culture by the bad actions of a few. It was something he had to constantly remind himself of, he really did want to believe that not all the Galra were bad. He decided that rather than worry he should put his time to better use, taking a trip down to the wave pools would give him a chance to calm his mind and work on his push and pull.

His session had been going well for over an hour before his concentration was interrupted. "That's pretty cool, are you doing that?" The prince didn't recognize the voice, but he kept up and pushed on regardless, trying to keep his wave steady.

"Yes." He answered simply.

"How?"

"The quintessence in my body allows me to manipulate liquid substances." He shrugged. "Or, at least, that's how it was explained to me." The prince finally let his small wave sink back into the larger body of water, willing it to still to the point of reflection before he turned to face his new company. What he was greeted with was not a fellow Prata Neptunian, but a young Galra boy, probably about his same age. He wore deep red silk robes with black accents. A crest was on his right pectoral that the prince had never seen before. He looked the new boy up and down before cocking his head to the side, puzzled.

"Is something the matter?" The Galra boy asked, his tone curious but with a hint of worry.

"What are you doing here? How did a young Galran such as yourself manage to not only enter the castle without my knowing, but also be allowed to roam about freely? Especially here, in _my_ wave pools." The young prince huffed slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest, hip jutting out to the right to complete his question with a bit of haughtiness to his body language.

"Um … they just let me walk in?" the other boy shrugged. But before the prince could respond to that the clock chimed in town and he cursed quietly under his breath.

"Fine, whatever, I have to go, but don't even think of touching my water. I'll know. This conversation isn't over, just paused!" he insisted before running out through the door. When had it gotten so late? His mother has told him they were expecting some important guests tonight and she wanted to help him get ready. She'd kill him if he blew her off, even if it was for training.

He was still being preened even on his way to the throne room after spending entirely too long on simply getting dressed. His mother, the queen, kept messing with his short brown hair, making sure it was her brand of perfect, and had popped his collar at least three different times. She had even licked her finger and wiped a nonexistent smudge off his face twice. There hadn't been anything there the first time and there still wasn't after the second.

"Mother, that is quite enough! Who are these people that we're meeting that are making you act so crazy?" He asked, for once, completely fed up with the attention.

"You will see, but you must look your best darling. Remember, first impressions are important." She tugged at his light blue dress shirt just once more before the great doors opened and she rushed him inside and towards his own throne next to hers.

"There they are, my ravishing wife and my dashing son!" His father smiled wide as they approached, his arms held out grandly as if he wished to hug them, though he knew better than to think that was the case with how much his mother had been fretting over his appearance. She hadn't even trusted the servants to help him dress for this occasion, it must be important. It wasn't until he was seated that he noticed the obviously Aristocratic Galrans in the room. And then, standing at attention just behind them, was that the same Galra boy from earlier? No, it couldn't be, right? No. That definitely was. Even if he did look a little different now with his head held high and his fuzzy ears forward facing and alert.

"And so, as to what we were discussing, I will accept your very gracious offer and the peace-"

"It's you! What are you doing here?!" He couldn't help it as he leaned almost out of his throne completely. He didn't mean to interrupt his father, but the curiosity was burning at him. He had to know, and he couldn't wait. Who knew how long this would go on for. All eyes were suddenly on him. The other boy's eyes suddenly very wide as he connected the voice to the face.

"You're the prince?!"

"What of it? Who are you?" His father's hearty laugh stopped him from asking any other questions, and from getting any answers.

"It sounds like you've already met then, good!"

"Kinda, I was practicing in the wave pools earlier and he wandered in and started distracting me." He huffed, crossing his arms and falling back into his throne, turning his whole head from the guests in front of him. "I didn't even get his name before I had to leave to get dressed." He turned his head back towards the boy when he heard some quiet snickering.

"Well if it puts your mind at ease little prince, I promise, I didn't touch your water."

"Little prince?! How dare you! My name is Lance! Prince Lance!"

"My apologies, _Little_ _Prince Lance_ , I meant no offense." There was mirth in his glowing yellow eyes, and a smile on his lips. Lance could feel the condescension dripping from his words. He had to hold back from physically bristling at the comment, his eyes narrowing on the smaller Galra boy.

"Your highness, I apologize. Prince Keith is not usually quite this rude." The boy's mother possibly? She spoke rushedly, then turned to the boy and began to scold him quietly directly into his ear.

"I hope that this little outburst of his is not putting our deal in jeopardy at all." The other man picked up right away, was he the young Galra's father? Wait, they had said Prince, which meant that he was Zarkon's son, didn't it? Lance looked to his own father, trying to figure out exactly why he needed to be here if this was just another residence request. But then, why would the prince of the Galra empire want to live here on his planet that was mostly water? The Galra were never really too fond of water, or at least, the feline ones weren't. He hadn't met too many reptile breeds.

"Not at all, I think it helps actually. Though, I must say, per your proposal, I do not have a daughter offer in exchange for his hand. But my son here is very open minded. Always flirting with the first pretty face he sees, even at such a young age." His father chuckled and Lance almost felt he should be offended if he weren't so curious as to what exactly was happening.

"That may be the case, but is it not true that your species is gender fluid, switching sex as it suits the situation or your fancy?"

"We can, though I am afraid that Lance does identify as a male. He may choose to assume a female anatomy or full body if he so wishes, but he usually does not." Wait. What? No. He had to be mishearing this. It sounded an awful lot like he was being married off to this Galra jerk.

"I see no problem with this, the bloodline has the potential to continue if they so wish it to, and that is the best we can ask for, is it not?" Lance wasn't listening anymore. This was ridiculous.

"Mother, I have the wrong idea of what's going on right now, right? Please?" He turned to his mother, fear in his eyes, his voice pleading.

"I'm afraid not darling. Lance, this is Prince, Keith. He is your betrothed from this moment on, in exchange for a peace treaty between the Galra empire and our planet. We have no natural resources that his father, Emperor Zarkon, wants since most of the planet is water, and since we would rather not get involved with a messy war, It has been decided that a few Nobles would come and form a colony here in Maritimus. This is the leader of said colony, and his wife, this was one of the conditions that both he, Zarkon, and your father came to agree upon in order to promise peace between us." He was frozen in place. He didn't even have the energy to brush his mother's hand from his shoulder as he stared past her at the wall. He was engaged. How was this possible? He wasn't even twelve standard periods yet!

"Of course, the wedding won't be until you are both of age though. So don't fret my young prince." He didn't look at the older Galra male as he spoke, but he heard his clothes rustle as he bowed. Lance finally focused back on his mother, his eyes narrowed. Zarkon was going to be his father in law? That was entirely too far beyond not okay that he couldn't even see it anymore.

"Well, I don't accept." He said firmly before getting up and storming out of the throne room. He would die before he let his parents decide who he would marry. Especially if who they were marrying him off to was Emperor Zarkon's own son! He stalked all the way back to his chambers and flopped face first into his plush bed. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. They hadn't even asked him! Of course he wanted to keep the peace, but not at the sake of his own happiness! He wanted that choice. Like all the royals before him. He wanted to marry for love, not politics! Entirely too soon there was a knock at his door. He wasn't ready for anyone to see him like this. "Go away!" He shouted.

"Are you really crying over this?" The smug voice that he now knew belonged to Keith asked. Great, he had been followed. And now he was being mocked too. This guy really wasn't selling himself too well.

"Of course not!" He grunted.

"Really? Because that's not how it looks to me little prince." There was a quiet snicker. Lance was sure he had been meant to hear it, but he paid it no mind, instead choosing to focus on the other prince's words instead.

"Don't call me little! You're smaller than I am!" Lance hollered as he sat up to face his verbal assailant. Keith's eyes flashed a bright yellow before he answered. Aw, had he struck a nerve? Lance smirked to himself. Good.

"I just haven't had my growth spurt yet! Besides, I'm older, I can call you little if I want to." This time it was Keith who crossed his arms in annoyance. "Look, I don't like this anymore than you do, but we have to."

"They didn't even ask me, this is the first time I'd even heard my father mention an arranged marriage." He took a deep breath. "I know it's for the good of my people, I know it's important. But … I don't want to."

"We have time. I'm not too thrilled with the idea either, but it won't be until your eighteenth birthday. So if it'll help, play around as much as you want before then." Lance scowled at that. Sure his people were more open to sexual encounters than the Galra, but he didn't have to call it playing around. "Because once we mate, I won't allow you to be with anyone else. I'm sure you've heard of the penalty a Galra faces if they are found to be unfaithful to their mate? You may be Prata Neptunian, but once we are mated, you are bound by my culture's rules as well." Keith sat down in the chair across from Lance's bed as he finished talking. "This is a done deal little prince. Neither of us has any say in it."

"My name, is Lance. If we are to be betrothed, you could at _least_ stand to learn my name."

"So then, you accept?"

"No, but, I'm also not being given an option." Lance mumbled. Especially not with a proposal like that, but that wasn't a fight he wanted to pick at the moment.

"Well, at least you can recognize that much. Look, _Lance_." Keith paused, waiting for something. Lance looked up from his sulking to look Keith in the eyes, which, apparently had been what he had been waiting for, he spoke again once he was sure he had Lance's full attention on him. "I realize I am not your ideal mate, you are not mine either. Hell, you're closer to what I eat for lunch back home than a potential mate,"

"Gee, comforting. So now I have to worry about being killed and eaten on the honeymoon?" Lance quipped, interrupting Keith.

"No, just that you are -your species is, very fish like, and we eat fish back home."

"We are not fish, but I can see how that assumption was made." That comment bothered him more than it should. They were amphibious, yes, but they were not fish.

"In any case, we may not have the choice anymore, but that does not mean we cannot learn to have a meaningful marriage. I am willing to put effort into this if you are. I see no appeal in not being attracted to my mate after all." Keith finally finished. There was a long, pregnant silence after Keith was done talking, Lance had to take this all in, process it. This Galra boy was saying that he would try to love him? Well, he supposed that he was a little cute. … In the most infuriating way. Lance sighed.

"I will try. I don't want a loveless marriage either."

"Great, then let's go back to the throne room and tell your parents." Keith smiled. He didn't know why, but that smile irked him. Something deep in his gut told him that that smile would be the end of him one day, and he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

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Okay, so what did you think? Yes? No? Maybe so?

The teaser takes place roughly between chapters three and four, so hang tight for that bit. I promise we'll get there.

Also, if you are good at coming up with names, I need options. I need two male names for some minor OCs. The OCs are going to be Galra, but they don't necessarily need to sound Galra, I mean, I didn't change Keith's name, so it can pretty much be anything. Please and thank you!

~ Evi


	3. This might not be so bad

This was far from ideal for both of them. But, maybe it really wouldn't the the worst thing ever?

He was falling hard for this kid, and he had only just met him. The next seven periods were going to be hell.

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Alright, chapter 2,

Oh gosh, I have so many other things I need to work on D: but oh well! This called to me! Hopefully you like it, hopefully it makes sense. It's sort of a slow build I know, but I want the Klance to be the focus of the fic. So just wait a little bit longer for the others to show up.

Also, still need names if you have any suggestions.

* * *

Once all the details had been hammered out, Lance was feeling only slightly better about the whole thing. Throughout the course of the last week and a half they had decided that the princes would spend the warmer half of the period there, on Prata Neptunia, and then the colder half, on Galra. They could switch if they so chose, and they could visit either planet at any given time regardless of the planet they were staying on currently. It was just as much for combating homesickness as it was to help with cultural integration for both princes. Both agreeing to it without too much of a fight.

Lance was at least excited that he would finally get to travel off planet for once. It had been a dream of his for quite some time, but was usually just that, a dream. Before the engagement, he was just a prince. The only heir to his father's throne, and as such, not allowed to do many things he deemed exciting. Keith on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled to be spending so much time so close to so much water. It made his nose twitch in mild irritation just thinking about it. But it was part of the arrangement. He would get used to it eventually.

"So, when I take the crown from my father, will you still stay here with me?" Lance asked carefully, they were in his chambers after finalizing all of the details. Keith sitting against the wall on Lance's bed, and Lance, sprawled out upside down in the chair across the way. His legs were dangling over the backrest and his head resting at what looked to Keith, to be a very uncomfortable angle, on the cushion. "Will I be bound here or would I still accompany you back to Galra occasionally? I don't see how this is going to work." He had a point. Keith thought about it and then shook his head before answering;

"I see no problem with staying here after you ascend the throne. It would be foolish for the king of an entire people to constantly be leaving the planet after all. I'm sure my father will understand if we only visit for special occasions."

"Keith … what _is_ your father like? I have only heard the stories of him on the battlefield and the terrors from this war. He can't possibly be just as horrible in private, right?" Of course he would be curious Keith told himself, Lance was marrying into the family. It made sense that he would want to know all about it.

Keith was silent for a moment, trying to come up with just the right words to describe his father. "My father is … a complicated man." He finally settled on. "He is dedicated to his cause, and even when he's home, he is thinking of being elsewhere." Keith glanced down to his lap then to the right, yellow eyes darting towards the ceiling as he spoke again, trying to search the room for just the right words to use. As if he would find them in his hands or on the walls, dangling from the high vaulted ceilings. "My father, his aura demands respect, and he is most lenient towards myself, but I have seen him punish even his most loyal commanders for simply looking as if they doubted him." He sighed. "In private he is much the distant emperor you probably envision." Keith looked back up to lock eyes with Lance. "But he does keep his word, you and your people should not have to worry about his wrath. And if ever need be, I will advocate for you. We will be mates after all."

"He doesn't sound like much of a caring father." Lance felt his heart ache at the thought of being raised in such a way, but Keith sounded genuinely proud of his father, even if he wasn't much for affection.

Keith laughed. "I suppose not. At least, not by your standards. Your father is kind to all and I can clearly tell that he loves you. Mine, I know he cares, but it is in a different way that he shows it. My people don't readily show such open affections, and so the type of familial love that your mother and father show you, would be quite odd in a Galra household." Keith could tell that the current topic was bringing Lance's mood down, and so chose to ammend it. "But enough of things we cannot help, why don't you show me your water abilities again. They were very interesting, and you can talk as much as you like."

In the short time that Keith had gotten to know the younger prince he had come to realize that Lance loved the sound of his own voice. It was not as if his voice were grating to listen to either, and so, Keith tended to appease him and let him prattle on as he wished. It was unsettling when he was quiet, Keith had come to associate that quietness with Lance's insecurities. When the other prince was unsure, or scared, or worried, he would be quiet. They may have only known eachother for a week, but that was probably the first thing Keith had picked up on about his newly betrothed. It was a funny feeling in his chest that told Keith that he didn't like Lance being quiet, that he would rather listen to him drivel on than think that there was something weighing on his fiancé's mind in such a way.

Lance smiled from his seated position, moving to sit properly in the wicker woven chair. The sudden movement causing a draft to sway the small tendrils of smoke of the incense stick he had lit. An import Lance often requested from a nearby planet, Keith had learned that too was one of the tan skinned prince's small quirks. He loved things that smelled good or looked pretty. It was a mystery to him why Lance prefered a male form when he clearly took more after his mother. He had claimed that the smells helped him to stay calm and focused, and that the pretty scent stayed in the room was an added bonus when Keith had asked it if were really necessary. A Galra's nose was sensitive, and Keith's was especially. But Lance had assured him that he would double check the scent with Keith before lighting it, which he stuck true to.

"That's a good idea!" And with that Lance lept from his chair and the Galra prince was hoisted up none too gently and dragged, almost quite literally, to Lance's privet wave pool. Once there he was released and Keith took a seat on the decorative cushion they had brought there for him on the floor, against the wall as he watched Lance descend into the water. The pools were deep but Lance was never more than knee deep regardless of how far out he went.

This time, Lance chose to go all the way to the middle of the pool. Keith had asked once how deep it actually got in his pool and Lance had simply answered that the end went directly down into the lower levels of the palace, submerged under water. The palace was built on the sea floor and reached all the way to the skies above, and so the many wave pools were the doorways to the deeper levels of the castle and when following the right paths, some went straight out to the open sea. The reason being that the small land mass next to the castle was the only one on the watery planet. It was mostly used for markets and housing the richer Prata Neptunians. The Galra colony was to be set up on the land mass too, close to the southern docks. Most of the inhabitants of the planet lived under those crashing waves though.

Keith wondered what it was like under those waves, to see the full extent of the Prata Neptunian culture. But alas he had no gills and his body was not made to stand the deep sea pressure to reach the cities far below them. Keith focused back on Lance and watched as the previously calm wave pool became a mighty storm. Lance had been working on the basics when he had happened upon him the first time, but he had soon come to find out that the young prince was much stronger than he had expected. He could control the clouds in the sky, and the rain from the heavens.

Lance now had three dark rain clouds hovering high in the air at the far end of the pool, the rain trickling down slowly. He controlled the clouds with a flick of his wrist and the rain with a constant twitch of his fingers on the same hand. He brought up his other arm, starting a slow rocking motion with his hand. Out, in, his hand dipping and cresting shallowly, Keith watched in awe as the water below began to form waves, slow at first, the steady motion producing one small ripple after another. He watched as they floated his way and disappeared in the calm just behind Lance's body. Bit by bit, tick by tick, the waves began to grow. The tiny waves that Lance had started with ebbing and flowing, giving way to larger waves as his hand motion picked up. Soon, lance had a full storm raging in front of him, in full control of the whole thing. The rain came down in sheets as his fingers quickened their motions. The clouds grew and plumed more as he rolled his wrist. Keith would expect thunder and lightning in a storm of such magnitude if it were nature made, but as it stood, Lance could not control that part of the storm. It was not water, and therefore out of his reach.

While he was marveling at Lance's show, Keith noticed that his prince was now waist deep in the wave pool. He must be having a hard time keeping his concentration split. "Lance." He called carefully, he didn't want to startle him, lest he lose control entirely. He knew that Lance would be fine if he were to fully be submerged in the water, but he still hoped that he would stay above the raging waters. It seemed that helped though, Keith smiled a little to himself as he saw Lance raise once more to knee level. He slowed the rain and the waves bit by bit, and soon, the water was calm again and Lance was making his way back over to him. He had his hand to his head, but a huge - albeit exhausted - smile on his lips. He flicked his wrist once more as he exited the pool and Keith watched as all the water that still clung to Lance's robes was removed and returned to the pool, leaving him just as dry as when they had first arrived in the room.

"So, what'd you think? I've been working on multitasking lately." his breath was ragged and Keith knew that he was tired. He smiled to his eyes and pulled Lance into his lap, hugging him tight. It was a short time, not even a month had passed, but Keith knew that he could form a deep bond with this silly boy in his arms. He hadn't felt quite so at home with anyone before.

"It was amazing! But maybe, try to not push yourself so much? You started sinking towards the end there."

"I would have been fine, but thank you for calling out to tell me." Lance nuzzled closer to Keith's shoulder. Keith was warm and soft. His hugs were like curling up with a blanket. Maybe marrying this Galra prince wouldn't be the worst thing ever. He felt sleepy after using so much energy. And if he fell asleep in Keith's arms, well, Keith didn't seem to mind.

Keith just shook his head. He still wasn't used to this kind of attention yet, but was quickly learning that Lance had zero sense of personal space boundaries. He was like a storm himself. There one minute, gone the next. Full force with everything he did. He was a flurry of hands and long legs, of kisses and loud laughter, of hugs that you never wanted to be let go from. He also had the habit of getting in your face when he was upset. Poking or prodding at his chest when he thought Keith was in the wrong. Raising his voice and sticking his face right in front of Keith's nose, those small hands resting on his narrow hips. His galra instincts kept telling him to mark him, to put his scent on Lance. To make sure everyone knew that this moody, adorable dork was his. Maybe Lance wasn't really his yet, but he would be, and that was close enough to drive his instincts wild. But that wasn't how the Prata Neptunians worked.

He had known from the small bit of research he had done on the planet on the way there initially that their people we pretty much exact opposites. The Galra mated for life, once, only engaging in sexual acts to solidify their bond or to breed. The Prata Neptunians though, were promiscuous at best. Their physical needs starting to show through at only fourteen, they thought nothing of taking care of these needs with others. Their bodies were not ready to breed until much later, so there was no scare of childbirth while they were exploring themselves. And they would explore, quite often. Lance was not even twelve yet, so he had not reached that age, but Keith knew it was coming. Knew that he needed to be ready for that day when Lance would come strolling into the room reeking of someone else, and he would have to keep his baser instincts under wraps. Because they weren't mates yet, and Lance could, _should_ , grow up and live his life normally until they were.

The Galra hardly ever showed physical affection, but within the first two days of being there Keith could honestly say that he had had more physical contact in those two short days, than probably in his whole life prior to meeting the rambunctious prince. Not that he was complaining. Lance's tan skin was soft and smooth, there was nothing to slow him down while he was in the water. It was slightly cold to the touch, but that was just Lance. He had asked about it once, having been taken by surprise and Lance had just shrugged, muttering something about Goddesses and trade offs.

The Prata Neptunian people were also very tall. Keith wasn't short by Galra standards, but compared to Lance, he felt like a little kid. They were all long legs. Lance stood a good two inches taller than him and while it was kind of irritating, he just had to accept it. It was just the differences in their genes. Perhaps once his growth spurt hit he would be taller? He could only hope. Keith brushed a lock of shoulder length brown hair from Lance's eyes, paying attention to the way his eyes seemed to reflect the light at certain angles, those eyes were mesmerising. In low light they almost seemed to glow. He knew his eyes did it, but Lance's eyes weren't that soft yellow he was used to, they were a dull white usually, sometimes if he looked close enough, he could almost see the blue of lance's eyes bleeding into that white light. He knew they weren't really glowing. That is was just a trick of the light on the reflective film that covered his eyes when he was in the water, but that didn't change how it looked, how it felt.

He was falling hard for this kid, and he had only just met him. The next seven periods were going to be hell.

* * *

Okay so, that was Chapter 2 ... these dorks are starting to get to know each other, coming to terms with the arrangement. Hopefully this is interesting. ... I at least like how it's coming together.

So these chapters are shorter than I usually write, but I'm hoping to pace it out a little, so I think this is the best way to do it.

Also, I decided to forgo most different time measurements. I'm going to keep Period for year, and Ticks for seconds, Tecks for minutes, and Tocks for Hours, everything else was getting hard to keep track of. I'll update this list if I decide to change that, but for now, I think that's the only thing to keep track of.

I know they had other words for stuff in the show, but I honestly don't want to have to remember all of that. (Or figure out/remember how to spell some of those words, like, my spelling is already shit, thank god for spell check, but adding made up words would probably kill me.)

Thank you for staying with this so far ^_^

~ Evi


	4. Off World For the First Time

Summary:

Lance is excited to finally get to leave Prata Neptunia for once in his life. Though his first trip to Galra wasn't exactly what he was expecting. This is going to take some getting used to.

"I should have acted sooner."

Notes:

Okay, so I want to apologize right now because I am absolute rubbish at writing any sort of action/violent scene and I tried my hardest here but I still don't think one part came out all that great, but it was necessary for later. It's long yet short, like there was other stuff I kinda wanted to cover but at the same time I didn't want to get too off subject. So really, this chapter is just about Lance meeting Zarkon for the first time in person and coming to the conclusion that he isn't too fond of the guy, but he does make a point.

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The trip to Galra a few months later was long, but it was the first time that Lance had ever been off planet before, so he enjoyed the trip fairly well. Keith pointed out the different things that he knew as they passed them by. The small trading planet for this particular galactic quadrant, the different planets that his father had conquered. The stars that he knew by name. Anything he could think of that he thought Lance might like to distract him from the boredom of traveling. Not that Lance seemed to think interstellar travel was boring just yet, but Keith was sure the novelty and excitement would ware off long before they got back to his home planet. They exchanged songs of their people and Keith discovered that Lance had a wonderful singing voice. The attendant that was sent with them from the palace giggled a little the first time Keith had heard Lance sing. She had told him that he was gifted by the Goddess of beauty, with what they called back home, the siren's voice. Lance had been worried when Keith hadn't said anything when he had finished his song, asking if it was really that bad and covering his face in his hands, skin turning a very lovely scarlet red. Keith had quickly tried to amend his his mistake, explaining that he had simply been stunned by Lance's beautiful voice.

Lance had argued back that Keith's singing voice was better, that he had a much more manly voice, deeper, something that resonated with his heart and soul. And that had been their first "fight" so to say. Both of them forcing complements on the other, trying to convince them that their singing was better. It was then that they discovered just how stubborn they both could be. That particular argument took up nearly two whole days of the voyage. But before they knew it, Keith was standing by the window, smiling wide as Galra came into view, excitedly pointing out buildings and structures that were visible from the port that they landed in. There was purple and red everywhere, the natural light of their daystar blocked by perpetual grey clouds that hung in the sky high above the city. It was nothing like Prata Neptunia. The water was scarce from what Lance had seen while they were orbiting, waiting for permission to land. The ground, once they had left the ship, was all hardened stone and metal. The buildings pierced the skies so high up that Lance had to crane his head back just to try and see the tops. "Do you ever see your daystar?" He asked as he took in his surroundings. Keith adopted a thoughtful look as he cocked his head to the right, contemplating how to answer.

"Occasionally, but no, it isn't often. Don't worry though, there's plenty of artificial light to see by." Keith straightened up and began walking towards an armored transporter of some sort, the likes of which Lance hadn't ever seen before. He had seen hover wagons before, but never any covered in such a thick steel. The transporter door opened and Keith stepped in, reaching back out to give Lance a hand. Lance accepted it and reached down with his other hand to pull up his robe so he didn't step on the silken material. Keith wore black trousers and a more heavily embroidered version of the crested dress shirt he had seen him in the first day they had met. Lance's formal wear was a bit more flashy though. The light, sky blue fabric was a long tunic that looked more like a dress for men to Keith, but he had seen Lance wear it to enough formal parties back on Prata Neptunia that he knew it was a special garment. It shimmered in the light and the ruffles made it look like water as the prince walked. He could tell that the guard that was sent to escort them was unsure of how to react to the piece and did his best not to show his disapproval, even if Keith had caught the subtle flash of a fang in the process of hiding his sneer.

"How about, after I introduce you to my father, we find some more traditional Galra clothes and I take you to see the Arena?" Keith offered. The Arena was always a good source of entertainment. Lance would like it. Right? He hoped so. He knew fighting wasn't really Lance's thing, but that was a big part of his culture, proving one's worth through sport. It was important for Lance to experience his culture too, even if Keith did suspect it would make the younger prince feel uncomfortable.

"What is wrong with my clothes?"

"Well, they may be functional back on your planet, but here on mine, they might get caught on something, I wouldn't want them to get ruined. Besides," He nodded subtly over to the guard. "You may get a few strange looks from the people of my planet if you go out in that."

"This is a sacred robe that-"

"I know, you've told me before, but on my planet, it will be perceived as frivolous and feminine. Even if I know the truth, no one else would."

"What's wrong with feminine? My people can be either Male or Female, what gender our clothes suggests is irrelevant." Lance sighed, he did have a point though. Galra was not Prata Neptunia, and they were defined by gender here. He should try and assimilate at least a little. "Fine, but can we keep it blue? Red and purple may suit you just fine but they aren't my colors." Lance pouted. Keith was weak to that pout already and it had only been a few months. What was worse was that Lance knew Keith couldn't say no to him when he pouted like that, and made sure to use it to his full advantage.

"I will see what I can find, but it'll probably be a deeper blue than that. We don't have many light colors here."

"I can tell." It was hard to tell if Lance was simply nervous to be in a new environment, or if he was moapy because he couldn't wear his clothes. Either way, it was odd for him to speak so little.

"I asked father to have a pool put in at home for you, for when we are here, it should be done by now." Keith offered, trying to cheer up the obviously out of place prince.

"A pool?"

"Yeah, so you don't feel quite so far away from Prata Neptunia. You can swim and train in it as you wish. Kinda like that combat training room your father put in for me. Speaking of which, now that I'll have a proper training room, I can show off to you a little too." Keith grinned, his sharp teeth showing through. Lance instantly perked up.

"What do you have in mind to show me?"

"Well, we have training androids so I figured I would set it to tournament mode and show you just how strong I am." Keith bragged.

Lance seemed to like that idea, seeing as he smiled back, but it wasn't quite the same as when he was truly excited about something. Keith had a feeling it was because there was so little standing water on his home planet that Lance felt out of place. Back in the palace on his planet there was a fountain, or a small moat, or a pool of some sort in nearly every room. Not to mention that outside the palace nearly the whole planet was water. Comparatively Galra was like a desert. He would have to try harder to make Lance feel at home here. The rest of the long journey to the palace was spent in near silence, Keith hummed a random tune he had learned while on Lance's planet quietly as the other prince lay against his chest, simply enjoying the sound of Keith's voice and the vibrations the tune sent through his body. The guard wrinkled his nose at the overly affectionate display, but otherwise didn't say a word. It wasn't his place, and both of the young men in his care out ranked him. It seemed that the time off planet had made his prince soft.

After a tock that felt like three, the transporter pulled up to the palace, the guard getting out first to stand at the ready near the door. Keith gently shook Lance's shoulder, opening his mouth excitedly to announce their arrival, but the herald seemed to get to it first.

"His highness, Prince Keith, and his betrothed, Prince Lance of Prata Neptunia!" Called the herald's loud voice. Keith quietly apologized as he helped Lance sit up and straighten his robes before disembarking first, then turned back to the door to offer Lance another hand down out of the transporter. Lance took it willingly, needing the extra help since his legs seemed to feel like the consistency of pudding currently. Once back on solid ground, Lance dropped his hold on the end of his robes, letting them fall to his feet once more. They walked through the palace, all the way to Zarkon's throne room, Lance's hold still on Keith's arm, just above his elbow. Once there Keith decided to wave the herald away, not wishing to annoy his father with a grand entrance.

"Come along, I promise he'll like you." Keith smiled over to Lance as he placed his hand over Lance's own on his arm. He had the door opened for them and then entered the vast room. Keith took a deep breath before he spoke, straightening his back and holding his head high. Lance couldn't help but smile as he watched him.

"Father, I have returned home from Prata Neptunia, this is Lance, my betrothed. I trust uncle has kept you informed?"

"Naturally." Lance felt small in front of Zarkon, his grip tightening subconsciously on Keith's arm as Zarkon's heavy gaze was settled on him. "Prince Lance, I am glad that you seem to get along with my son." his voice purred in his ears and Lance wasn't sure what to call the sensation that was sent down his spine. Keith spoke similarly when he got serious, but he never felt quite so cold while pinned under Keith's gaze as he did now under his father's.

"Of course." Lance struggled to find his voice, but was proud of himself when he manage to answer without the waver in his voice that he felt ripple through his body. "Your son is quite amazing, even in our short time together I think that this marriage, while not ideal at first, will bear fruit." Lance concluded honestly, Keith gave Lance's hand a gentle squeeze that the younger prince could only interpret as reassuring. Zarkon chuckled.

"I hope you are right." And then his attention was back on Keith. Normally Lance liked being the center of attention, but Zarkon, that was something completely different. He was utterly terrifying. "That pool you asked for is done, I hope your soon to be mate finds it to his liking."

"I am sure it will be." Keith spoke direct and to the point. He wasted no breath on superfluous words. Lance looked between the two, quietly taking a deep breath in through his nose, and letting it out through his mouth.

"Um, your majesty, Emperor Zarkon, if I may interject." Lance let go of Keith's arm just long enough to bow at the waist, holding it for a moment before coming back up and latching back onto Keith. "I just wanted to say thank you. Both for this gracious gift, and also, for this peace treaty. I admit, when I first heard the conditions I was none too thrilled. Arranged marriages are almost unheard of on my planet. But the thought of peace with the Galra empire is very much a welcome thought, and I can say with certainty, that I do speak for all of my people, when I express my gratitude to you for offering it." He spoke calmly, breaking eye contact just long enough to look at Keith and smile before looking back to the intimidating man in front of them. "And your son, Prince Keith, is absolutely amazing. If I had to be married off for political gain, I'm glad that it happened to be him whom I was matched with."

Lance smiled wider as he finished, catching the burning blush on Keith's face. Zarkon gave a contemplative hum. "Well, it does help that you are such a powerful manipulator. Especially for such a young age." He stood and Lance had to fight the urge to take a step back with each step Zarkon took towards them. "I wonder, could you give my son and I a demonstration of your abilities?" Zarkon leaned down so that he was at eye level with him, and something shone in those glowing eyes of his that put Lance on edge.

"O-of course," his voice stumbled as he spoke, but he pushed on regardless. "what would you like me to show you?" Zarkon stood straight once more and smiled.

"How are your people at fighting?"

"My people and I are pacifists, our 'fighting' techniques are meant for self defense only. The only members of our society that know anything past that, would be our guards. And even then, they would never start a fight, only react to one instigated against them, and try to resolve the conflict as swiftly, and non violently as possible."

"I see, but your people do possess an ability that could be considered quite dangerous. A trump card, if you will." Zarkon's eyes seemed to smile as he asked his question.

"Yes, my people possess the ability to manipulate the water on our planet's surface. But as I said, we only act in self defence. Most times this ability is used for entertainment or an extension of themselves to complete their work. Many have refined their abilities to an art form."

"And then there is you. You can manipulate more than just water, can you not?"

"My quintessence is compatible with most other forms that take liquid shape, yes." Lance had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"What other forms have you attempted to control?"

"Father, Lance has shown me a great deal of what he can do." Keith interjected, Zarkon's eyes moving off of Lance and onto his son.

"Such as?"

"He has shown me that he can manipulate the moisture in the clouds, the sea itself, create rain, pull the water from plants. He had even at one point, though it was to be silly, taken the drink from my cup and levitated it in the air." Keith spoke as if enamored, and Lance could honestly say that he had forgotten about that night that he had stolen Keith's drink from his chalice. He had meant it as a prank. He had held the wine suspended in front of Keith's face, formed into three small spheres. Though Keith had only smiled brighter, clapped his hands and praised him. That had been at dinner the first night they had met. He had expected Keith to be angry, to glare or scold him. But he did neither, he had simple leaned forward and drank the wine from mid-air. Lance had been stunned and, once Keith had drank all of it, Lance hadn't been able to help his laughter from bubbling forth. That was probably when he had decided to give liking this Galra prince a chance. They had been on good terms since.

"I had actually been teasing you when I did that." Lance couldn't help it, the memory made him smile, the small breathy laugh that escaped his lips was completely accidental. "I still wasn't quite sure what to make of you yet. You surprised me when you still drank it, floating there in the air before you, though."

Keith turned to face him, a warm smile on his lips as well. Zarkon seemed to be pondering the conversation between them quietly as he did not say a word at the sudden change in direction. "I had figured as much, I was a little upset at first, but then it struck me what you had actually done, and I couldn't help but be impressed."

"Levitating wine is nice and all, but I mean more interesting substances." Zarkon pushed on, deciding he had no interest in how their courtship had begun. "Molten metals, liquid fire, accelerants, blood, to name a few. Have you experimented with just how far your abilities go?"

Lance could feel the blood draining from his face as Zarkon spoke. "I, I have, once or twice tried manipulating blood. Both internally and externally, though I do not enjoy controlling other people. It feels invasive, not only for them, but for myself as well." Zarkon smiled at his words, and that foreboding feeling returned with full force. Perhaps admitting to such acts was not his brightest idea.

"Show me." Zarkon waved his hand and a soldier that Lance hadn't even noticed was there stepped out of the shadows. He stood at attention, awaiting Zarkon's orders.

"I don't fight, your majesty." Lance could hear the strain in his voice.

"You don't, but my son is quite skilled. Though, I don't think he's faced a soldier from my army head on outside the training rooms before." Zarkon's tone seemed pleasant, relaxed even, like he hadn't just so flippantly and inadvertently threatened his son's life. "Keith, why don't you show your fiancé the strength of a Galra warrior, and trust that if you make a mistake that he will come to your aid." There was a glimmer of mirth in Zarkon's yellow eyes. Lance's eyes widened as he turned to Keith.

"He can't be serious, I, I haven't been able to do it 100% of the time, what if I fail and you get hurt?" Lance was panicking, his eyes losing focus and his hands shaking against Keith's arm. Keith pulled his arm free from Lance's surprisingly tight grip and moved to hold him by his shoulders.

"Lance, I trust you to keep me safe. You can do this, I know it. Trust yourself and your abilities, and they will not fail you." Lance wasn't sure how Keith could have so much faith in him, but if he trusted him that much, then the least he could do was live up to Keith's expectations of himself. He would try. No matter how much the idea repulsed him. Lance watched in mild horror as Keith stepped forward towards the taller, and much bulkier soldier. He was given a sword and Lance watched still as Keith crouched down into a defensive stance, ready to strike back at a moment's notice should his opponent attack first. The soldier lunged at Keith, Lance was having a hard time controlling his heart rate as he watched Keith dodge the heavy swing, sidestepping out of the way at the last second. Keith was quicker, lighter on his feet than this soldier was. He was more agile and was soon quickly taking the offensive. The fight went on for what Lance felt like was forever. He kept his eyes out, taking detailed note of every movement both of the fighters made. And then the soldier had the upperhand, having managed to trip Keith. His sword skittering off out of reach as his back collided with the stone floor. The soldier looked down and raised his blade high as if to strike Keith with a fatal blow, and that was all Lance could take.

"Stop!" he cried as he watched the soldier make sure Keith's arms were pinned beneath his knees, then started to bring his sword down in a arch towards Keith's head. "STOP!" Lance shouted again, his hand reaching out, fingers splayed in the air, as if to grab the man's arm and stop him himself. He grabbed nothing though, but left his hand in midair, his eyes clenched shut. Though strangely enough he could feel the telltale tug of water, trying to resist his control. Could he really have done it? Lance cracked one eye open slowly, noticing first just how close that soldier's blade was to Keith's neck and he twitched his finger to command the body at his disposal to drop the sword away from his betrothed. When he did as bid, Lance opened his eyes the rest of the way, all his muscles but the ones in his arm relaxing in relief. He had been so worried that this wouldn't work out. Zarkon let out a pleased hum from somewhere behind him, clapping slightly.

"Impressive, both of you. Keith seems to have kept his edge while on your peaceful planet. Even if he did come back with such sickeningly weak emotions." Keith seemed to wince at the comment and the disapproving tone that came with it. And if Lance weren't terrified of what would happen as soon as he let the soldier go, he would have turned to glare at his soon to be father in law.

"But you, Lance, that was quite impressive. I admit, I was a bit disappointed when you did not stop him sooner, but seeing how close you let it get, I think we can work with this." Lance really didn't like that tone either. He twitched his wrist and willed the soldier to get up off of Keith, making him walk back over to the wall where he had been previously before letting him go. His arm dropping heavily to his side. He felt drained. In every way possible. Emotionally, because he thought he could have just lost Keith if he had made even the slightest of mistakes, which was more pressure than he ever wanted to experience ever again. Mentally, because using that particular ability was still new and he had yet to properly perfect it. Physically because it was taxing on his muscles to be so tense. Everything suddenly just felt like it was too much. He saw Keith get up and start walking to him, but it wasn't until the purple teen put his hand on his shoulder that he promptly collapsed into the strong arms that would undoubtedly catch him.

The smile that had been on Keith's lips, waiting to tell Lance that he had done a good job was quickly exchanged with a worried frown as he rushed to hold Lance's now very limp, out cold, body tightly against his own. He knew it as asking a lot of the other prince to use his blood manipulation magic when he had yet to fully understand it, but he hadn't thought it would be this physically taxing on him. He didn't even fully understand it when Lance tried to explain his abilities to him, but he did know that this was normal. The physical and mental exhaustion due to overexertion.

"Father, if you are satisfied, I think it would be best if I took Lance to lie down." Keith looked his father straight in the eyes, bowing his head slightly as he waited for a dismissal.

"As you wish. I do want him to practice that ability a bit more though. Convince him." Zarkon ordered simply.

"Father." Keith started, a heavy glare set in his eyes; "Lance does not like using this application of his powers. I can not convince him to do something he does not wish to do."

"You will, because it is an order from your Emperor." Zarkon stated simply, then waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing his son out of his sight. Lance was still so young, asking him to work on this technique for his father's use could strain the fragile connection they had only just made. While being on Prata Neptunia had the potential to be a good thing for Keith, he feared that being on Galra might have the opposite effect on Lance. He liked that Lance wasn't a power hungry warrior bent on making a name for himself. Lance was kind and generous, a little fickle sometimes, and above all, hated even the thought of hurting another living thing. But Zarkon, his own father, wanted to use Lance like a weapon.

"I will ask because you are my father, and my Emperor, but I will not push him to do something he does not want to do. If he chooses to hone this ability, it will be his own choice." Keith argued. It scared him, talking back to his father in such a way, but he was going to mate this boy in his arms, he had to put Lance's well being before orders from even his father. A Galra's mate was the exception to the rule. They were a fiercely loyal race, but loyalty to one's mate came before all else. And even if the were not mated yet, they would be. And that was enough for Keith. Keith felt small under his father's glare, but it did not last long, and it honestly surprised him when Zarkon gave a small chuckle.

"You are not even mated yet, but you already choose him over me? Interesting." Zarkon nodded to the double doors Keith and Lance had entered through and spoke again. "Very well, do it your way. But emphasize that it could be used for defense as well. Now leave." Keith didn't need to be told twice and scooped Lance up into his arms and began to briskly walk back the way he had come, not stopping even as he heard his father speak again; "And stop by medical, you look a mess." Medical was probably a good idea. He knew that soldier had gotten a few good hits in and Lance probably would feel better as well when he woke up if he could tell him that he had gotten the doctor to look him over. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable conversation they he had to bring up once Lance did wake, but, he had to. It didn't take long to get from the throne room to the medical wing, which was pretty much as close to the center of the palace as it could possibly be to make it easier to get to. Leaning Lance's head on his shoulder and leaning his own body back just slightly to support him without fearing dropping him, Keith rapped on the door quickly, then returned his hand to Lance's neck and stood straight once more. The door opened and they were ushered in quickly once they saw who it was. Keith set Lance down on one of the cots, brushing the hair out of Lance's eyes before turning to the doctor himself.

"I just need a general exam, and he will probably want an energy supplement." Keith spoke calmly. The doctor looked Keith over and furrowed his brow.

"What in the world happened my prince? You only just returned and already have gotten into a fight?"

"My father wished to test my strength after returning from Prata Neptunia. And to see Lance's abilities in person." He nodded over at Lance's unconscious form on the cot. "He passed, but exerted too much energy and collapsed." Keith explained further.

"I see, so then this is your intended mate." The doctor nodded, getting the picture before he set out to gather the things he would need. "Go sit on the other cot while you wait." the doctor instructed as he dug through a cabinet looking for a supplement for Lance and some disinfectant for Keith. Before Keith had even gotten properly comfortable the doctor came over with an arm full of supplies and two large bottles. He set everything down on the table between Lance and Keith's cots and set to work on Lance first since his was the easiest treatment. He poured a small cup full of one of the bottles and set it aside before moving Lance into a sitting position. He picked up a small gold metal bowl and held it under Lance's nose, the smell rousing the slumbering prince with a groan. Weakly Lance tried to push the offending scent away from his face and the doctor obliged, setting it back down on the table and handing him the small cup.

"Here, drink this, slowly. It might not taste the greatest, but it will help you recover your strength quickly. I will have an assistant find you something to eat after you have finished two of these, okay?" Lance nodded groggily and brought the cup to his lips, his face scrunching up in distaste as the first sip made it's way down his throat.

"It tastes like dilltoad oil." he grumbled quietly.

"He did say it might not taste the best." Keith teased, he was just happy Lance was awake again, even though he knew it was nothing serious.

"I don't want to drink two of these." Lance complained.

"Too bad, you need it." Keith answered as the doctor brought over a stool and sat himself right in front of Keith, first carefully dabbing away the blood starting to clot in his fur. The doctor stayed quiet as he worked, disinfecting and bandaging his small wounds. He was sure there was nothing too bad, but the doctor still insisted on doing a full check up regardless.

"You're okay, right?" Lance finally asked having finished the first cup and sticking his tongue out in disgust before the doctor's assistant refilled it and then put the bottle away and going off in search of food for Lance.

"Of course I am." Keith wanted to smile, to reassure Lance, but the doctor chose then to disinfect one of the deeper wounds and his face contorted into a wince instead at the subtle sting he hadn't been anticipating. "I knew you would be able to do it." he continued anyway.

"You could have been killed back there, and I honestly do not think that would be something I could live with, knowing I should have acted sooner. I wouldn't be able to handle knowing that it was my fault something horrible happened to you, to anyone in general. Death due to inaction is just as condemning as death by my own hand. How could your father test you so harshly like that?" Keith shrugged, but then was scolded by the doctor.

"That is just how he is, there really is no half way with him. Besides, if I had been able to handle myself in that fight, you would not have felt compelled to do as my father asked." Keith's voice was quieter now, hesitant to bring up his father's request. Lance stayed quiet, unsure of how he felt or how to answer Keith's statement. "He wants you to practice it more." Keith finally settled on. Deciding that the sooner he said it the sooner he could tell his father that Lance wasn't interested. He missed the slow nod that Lance gave, his eyes still forward and focusing on the wall just over the doctor's shoulder, but he did catch the sigh the left Lance's lungs.

"As much as I don't want to … maybe I should." Lance chugged the rest of the medicine and slammed the cup back down on the table, making a miserable gagging sound. "That is seriously the worst, what is it?"

"You don't need to know." The doctor answered hastily. Which, both boys knew really meant that they didn't _want_ to know. Lance gratefully accepted the dried meat strips the doctor's assistant offered him and stuffed one in his mouth almost immediately to try and rid himself of the putrid taste. Keith was taken so aback from Lance's answer that he hardly had time to even think about not turning his head to face the tan prince.

"What do you mean, 'maybe you should'? You said so yourself that you hate that application of your powers."

"Yes, but if it can keep you safe, then I think I should learn it. Besides, controlling an attacking party would be much easier to resolve a conflict before more bloodshed occurred should I ever be put in such a situation." Lance's eyes looked heavy as he spoke and Keith wanted nothing more than to be close enough to rest a hand on his betrothed's knee, to look him in the eye as he spoke next.

"Only if that is really what you want. I will not push you to learn something I know you hate, and I already told my father this."

"Keith, if I had practiced this technique more, had more confidence in myself that I could do what he was asking of me, you would not have gotten hurt."

"This is nothing, I have had worse from trials before, I have even been hurt worse roughhousing with my brothers."

"You could have been killed if I were any slower!" Lance raised his voice, the fear in it was obvious, and it tugged at Keith's heart. It was almost as strong now as it had been when he had stopped the soldier back in the throne room.

"But I wasn't. And my father will not test you on this any more should you refuse to practice it." Keith replied weakly.

"I do not believe that. I know he sees my abilities as a potential weapon, and blood manipulation would a very easy way to accomplish a great many feats. But it would also be good for defending myself and you." Lance turned his head to look directly at Keith. "I will tell your father that I will practice this ability, but that I do not intend to use it to harm anyone under any circumstances." And that was the end of the discussion, his tone left no room for Keith to argue. All he could do, was nod and accept the decision that Lance had come to on his own.

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Notes:

Aaaaannnnnd the next chapter is where Lance and Keith meet Blue and Red! Exciting!

Also, Keith mentions his brothers in this chapter, they make an appearance later on as well (That was part of what I wanted to explore in this chapter, but decided to wait since this one was getting kinda long compared to the other chapters.)

Also thank you to my amazing friend and beta, FrostyTrish, for helping me actually get this out!

I hope to hear what you think so far! It makes me happy and motivates me to work harder on it ^_^

~ Evi


	5. Finding Blue and Red

Summary: Blue and Red show up, fuck some shit up, Keith is not having a good day, and Lance is not so quietly freaking out.

Notes: Okay! So, there's a bit of a time skip here, we're finally back to the present. Poor Keith is having one hell of a day. In case there was any confusion, When they meet Lance is almost 12, and Keith is 14. Now we've skipped a few years and Lance is seventeen, while Keith is nineteen and the wedding is only another year off.

* * *

"Lance?" Keith called out worriedly. They had gone down to the beach and he'd taken his eyes off the prince for just a tick. Apparently, the one tick was all it had taken for him to lose the now seventeen period old child that was his betrothed. He was probably flirting with someone, and Keith really didn't like watching Lance flirt, but he liked the idea of not knowing where the taller boy even was less. It irked him that even after their first growth spurt Lance was still taller than him. The smug bastard still held it over his head too. Keith was already nineteen, it wasn't fair that he was still shorter. Before he could get even angrier at the prince's disappearing act though, he spotted him by the water, chatting up a group of two girls and a guy. All three were attractive, And that was really all they had to be to catch the prince's eye. When he had suggested Lance play around when they were younger, he hadn't anticipated quite the monster that would unleash. If he had known then what he did now, he never would have offered that out. Especially since Lance's flirting was absolutely horrible. Keith was sure that the only reason he ever got anywhere with half the people he flirted with was because he was the prince. Okay, and his looks didn't hurt his chances any either. You don't turn down a date with attractive royalty after all. Keith walked over to the group, stood right behind Lance, his hands on his hips, a frown on his lips, and murder in his eyes.

"I _thought_ , we were on a _date_ Lance." He growled out. Lance stiffened at Keith's tone. "I turn my back for a single tick and you run off? We only go out twice a month Lance! Can't you control yourself at least a little?" Lance turned back to face him, a hand scratching at the back of his head as he laughed nervously.

"Sorry Keith. I saw Isa over here with these two beautiful ladies and well, you know how much I love blonde hair." Lance had that pouty look in his eye again, and it really shouldn't affect Keith like it did, especially when he as trying to be angry with him. He sighed.

"Yeah, I do know. Blonde hair, muscles everywhere, long legs. How can I possibly expect you to hold back." His tone was bland and his stare was flat but he pushed on regardless; "But I am your Fiancé Lance, and this is date day, so don't you think you should be showing a little more respect to me? You can flirt with Isa tomorrow, when I don't have to watch."

"Pft, you'll end up watching anyway, you always do. You're paranoid."

"And you, are too trusting! You don't know these people, someone could wish you ill!"

"No one would wish me ill, Keith, I'm the prince. Everyone loves me."

"Ah, I'm sorry, but, did I do something wrong?" Isa, the man Lance had previously been chatting up, decided to speak out. Keith looked around Lance and glared at him harder.

"Yes, you are enticing my Fiancé, stop it."

"It's an arranged marriage Keith, stop acting like I'm cheating on you. You said I could play around all I wanted before the wedding."

"I did, and I have regretted it ever since the words left mouth. It was like opening Pandora's box and losing the lid." Lance glared at him for that and brought his arm up at his side. "Lance." Keith warned him, he knew what the prince was doing, and did not like it.

"You seem like you're burning up a little Prince Keith, allow me to help you," He swung his arm gracefully in front of him, and along with it came a great splashing wave of cold seawater. "Cool off." He finished as he brought his hand back down and to his hip, snickering obnoxiously. All Prata Neptunians could manipulate the water of their planet, it was one of the reasons why Zarkon had left it alone. It was too much trouble to attack their home planet. But Lance was stronger than average, and had much more control over the element. This wasn't new to him, but he always seemed to forget just how formidable an opponent Lance could be when he put his mind to it. The royal family was known to be the best at water manipulation, and Lance definitely lived up to that. Even in the long line of royals before him, Lance was a prodigy, and while Keith usually respected that, even admired his abilities, it was times like these that he really hated them.

"So it's going to be like that, huh?" Keith grumbled irritably. The two girls behind Lance gasped as Keith shook the water from his exposed fur, and he could sense Isa backing up with every step he stalked forward towards Lance. "Just remember _little prince_ , you started this." Were the only words he whispered into Lance's ear once he was close enough. He didn't miss the slight quake that ripped through the prince at his chiding. Keith may have been shorter, may have been water manipulation inept, but he was Galren. Which made him physically stronger than the very near feather light prince. He picked Lance up easily, grabbing him by the Left arm and leg, and threw him the short distance from where they were standing on the sandy beach, into the water. The waves were erratic as Lance waved his arms around in a panic. It was something he had noticed very early on after moving to Prata Neptunia, they were all built like fish. Light bones, sharp teeth, large colorful eyes, and three small, very sensitive, almost unnoticeable slits on either sides of their neck that acted as gills while underwater, but closed while they were on land. Lance soared through the air and landed in the water with a large splash. As it stood, his panicking was only making the waves more turbulent. He smirked and then turned back to the small group behind him; "Anyone else interested in going for a swim?" He may have been smiling, but his eyes were challenging. The three troublemakers all shook their heads and ran off. Good riddance. By the time Lance made it back to the beach Isa and the girls were long gone.

"What did you do that for?" Lance groused as he flicked the water off of himself and, pointedly, at Keith. Keith simply brought his arm up to shield his face, but left it at that, it was just water and he was already soaked.

"Why did you feel the need to ditch me on our date to flirt with a random stranger?" Keith countered. It hadn't been this bad before, but as the days started to count down to the wedding, Lance had began to fool around a bit more often. They only had a period left. He knew Lance was just worried, scared of settling down so early. It was sort of an odd fear if Keith were to be honest with himself, he couldn't really wrap his head around the idea. Scared of commitment, scared of missing out on who else was out there. It didn't make sense. The Galra mated once, to one person, and they stayed faithful to that mate no matter what. But Lance's people were different. They were very open and if things didn't work out, they shrugged it off and went in search of someone else. They got married later in life, when their sex drive wasn't quite so high, and even then, if both parties agreed, Lance had once told him that they could invite other people to join them and that that was considered both acceptable, but also normal. The idea of sharing his lover with anyone would be an impossibility for any Galra. They were too possessive, protective, and aggressive towards anyone who even thought about possibly making a move on their mate in any way. Lance sighed, stroking gently at the gills on the left side of his neck with the pads of his fingers before answering.

"I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have run off like that." Lance lowered his eyes, his voice apologetic. And Keith knew that he couldn't stay mad at him, right then and there. He was weak to Lance, he knew that, had known it since they had first visited Galra six periods ago. Keith let his shoulders relax and walked the rest of the way over to Lance to rest his palm against Lance's hand, stilling it against his neck.

"I am sorry too, for being so aggressive about it. I could have handled that better, but I was rather jealous that you would pick someone else over me while we were supposed to be on a date." He spoke quieter and bent to look Lance in the eye. "Can you forgive me for throwing you into the water like that?" Lance just chuckled and surged forth, wrapping his arms around Keith's neck and bringing him into a big hug.

"I already have. It was called for, I was being a jerk." He nuzzled into Keith's chest and inhaled deeply, taking in the salty scent of the ocean and heady musk that he had come to associate with being exclusively Keith. "And, I am sorry for splashing you too."

"It is fine, do not fret. It was just water." Keith answered, reciprocating the hug, his arms winding around Lance's middle.

"But you don't like being wet."

"No, but I would rather be wet than keep fighting with you over stupid things."

"Then how about we pick back up where we left off on this date?"

"What did you have in mind then?"

"I want to show you the rest of the city, it's been six periods and you've still never ventured beneath the waves!"

"That would be because, unlike you my love, I can not breathe under water." Keith chuckled, tapping Lance's nose teasingly. He wished he could act like this with Lance on Galra too, but this sort of affection on his planet was reserved solely for behind closed doors.

"Which is why, I have been working on a new technique, in secret. To surprise you."

"What sort of technique?" Lance took a step back and flicked his wrist, pulling all of the water out of Keith's clothes and fur before gesturing towards the waves.

"Why don't I show you? I didn't want to tell you until I had it perfect and could do it effortlessly, and after a period and a half, I think I've got it down pretty well, to the point where I can sustain it for tocks even!" That was pretty impressive, whatever this new technique was, Keith could tell that Lance had put a lot of time into it. Just for him, it was endearing. Keith decided to humor him and followed Lance to the edge of the water,

"Now what?" He asked, he really didn't want to get wet again so soon if he could avoid it. Lance made a few small gestures with his left hand though and the waves parted. Then, with his right hand, he cupped his hand and rotated his wrist a few times in a circular motion. Soon, just at the end of the parted waves, where he could see the sea floor start to dip, the water splashed up and made a sort of domed entrance to the depths below. Keith was stunned. "What exactly is it that you were practicing?" he asked carefully as he began to follow Lance towards the dome.

"Air pockets." He smiled happily. "I've been working on making large enough air pockets so that I could take you down into the city proper. Large enough to cover both of us, so that you can breathe and so that the water pressure doesn't affect you." Lance excitedly pulled at Keith's arm to tug him towards the water, once inside the dome the water crashed back down behind them and, as they walked, the bubble of air seemed to follow with them. Lance didn't have to make a grand gesture to call the water to do as he wished, but he did most of the time just because he enjoyed making a show out of it. This time, however, Lance kept his movements small and precise, only moving his wrist as much as strictly necessary to keep the pocket in tact. The waters were a crystal clear turquoise and Keith marveled at how he could see everything so clearly.

"This is amazing Lance." He breathed as he reached out to drag a few clawed fingers along the wall of water next to him as they walked, finding the ripples intriguing. Lance grinned over to him, basking in the praise.

"It is, isn't it?"

Keith liked seeing Lance smile like that, wished he could see him always smile like he had no worries at all. "So, what are you going to show me first?" Keith smiled, getting easily swept up in Lance's giddy emotions.

"The temples sound like a good place to start, I should introduce you to our Gods."

"Very well, which Gods should I be prepared to meet?" Keith had heard a great deal about these gods from Lance, frequently when he could not locate the other prince it would turn out that he had snuck out to visit the temples. Occasionally, when he was younger, even coming back with a few injuries that Lance would refuse to speak of. It worried Keith to no end, but Lance would insist that it was his own fault and that he should not worry about it. Not that that helped any, but without gills he couldn't follow Lance and know for sure. When he had voiced his concerns with Lance's mother, she had just told him that it was a norm by now, and that it really was nothing to worry about. That had worried him more, but he decided it was best not to argue with the queen. If Lance's own mother was not worried, then he probably should try to push it to the back of his mind. Thinking about how he could finally see these temples himself, those thoughts began to surface once more. "Does this mean you will finally tell me how you got those bruises that you used to come back with when you claimed you were visiting these temples?" Lance's smile stayed in place but his eyes seemed to show a sliver of hesitation.

"Are you actually still worried about that?" He asked carefully, trying to shrug it off with a flippant chuckle. Keith released a labored sigh and shook his head.

"You can say it was nothing all you want, but I will not believe it. You were pretty beat up a few times, which was odd since people on this planet are adverse to violence." Lance sighed.

"Alright. We'll visit Lady Eurybia first then." Keith didn't fail to notice the way Lance's shoulders seemed to tense at the change of conversation topic. Deciding to remedy Lance's discomfort at least a little, he stepped up closer and ran his hand up and down along the other prince's spine in a way that he knew Lance enjoyed. His claws occasionally scratching lightly against the thin fabric of Lance's robes. Lance took a deep breath and stopped suddenly, turning to face Keith, an appreciative smile on his lips he he leaned forward and kissed him chastely. "I promise to explain once we get there, okay?" he whispered it directly against Keith's lips and Keith almost forgot what he was referring to with how warm he felt with Lance so close. Almost.

"I will hold you to that then." Keith smirked, leaning forward and giving Lance a quick peck of his own before gesturing for him to continue leading the way. Keith looked out through the walls of the bubble and took in the impressive stone buildings that were off in the distance. "Is that the city?" he asked distractedly.

"Yeah, it's the rest of Maritimus. Downtown if you will. Or, at least, all the fun parts of it anyway. Love hotels, clubs, bars, arcades, cafes, you name it, it is probably in that part of the city." Keith supposed that would be what Lance considered fun, but since he wasn't able to breathe under the water without Lance's help, he supposed all of those things would have to wait until they were on a different planet if they wished to enjoy them together. Maybe he would look into which planets were similar for after the wedding, to surprise Lance.

The walk to the temples was long, and while Keith did enjoy the ever consistent scenery, he was starting to wish he could swim, if for no other reason than to spare his aching feet the walk back. Not to mention that he was starting to become a little peckish.

"Hey Lance, do you think maybe we could catch a fish or something, I'm getting a little hungry. We didn't eat anything before this impromptu trek." Keith wasn't really one for complaining, but, since it was just the two of them, he felt a little more okay with it.

"Hmm, oh, there's something we can eat!" Lance replied as he looked around before guiding them towards a boulder and a patch of underwater grass. Lance left Keith at the boulder and walked out of the air bubble and over to the small patch, bending down and harvesting some of the weed. When he came back, Keith noticed that it was ligmint root that Lance had found and instantly felt his hunger vanish if that was all he was going to be offered. Prata Neptunia had several different kinds of food, most of which were too heavily salted in his opinion. Which was something that took Keith almost two periods to voice, and was easily fixed, but the worst thing he had ever encountered was ligmint root. It was bland, and slimy, and tasted completely of sea water. Even when dried. He honestly could not understand why Lance liked it so much, but the other boy did, ate it like it was candy sometimes.

"I am not eating that."

"Oh come on Keith, ligmint root is good, and it's full of healthy nutrients!" to prove his point Lance put one half way in his mouth and gave a pleased moan before offering one over to Keith. Keith simply gave him the most unimpressed look he could muster and reached out to grab the first fish that swam by, catching it easily, and taking a bite out of it raw and still alive, holding the still floundering carcass out to Lance in much the same fashion. Lance grimaced and tongued the rest of the leaf into his mouth before swallowing it after a moment of chewing.

"Keith, that fish is raw and alive still …"

"And yet, it tastes a hundred times better than that stupid weed."

"Agree to disagree." He paused, glancing back down at the offered fish. "No, I'm good, you can have the whole thing to yourself." Lance pushed lightly at Keith's outstretched hand, avoiding touching the fish as best he could.

"What's wrong, you eat raw fish all the time." Keith teased.

"Yes, but when I eat it, it does not still have a face, or move on its own, and all the blood is cleaned off." Keith just shrugged at Lance's reply and brought the fish to him mouth again and took another bite.

"Adds flavor." he stated simply. Lance shook his head and went back to eating his slimy plant.

"Keith, I love you, but that is disgusting." Lance could feel his stomach churn in discomfort as he glanced over and watched Keith continue to munch away at the by now very much dead fish. "The scales can't taste good either." he added as an afterthought. Keith merely shrugged, making sure to eat the whole thing, picking the bones clean before he set the last one in the pile he had started forming on the boulder next to him. He reached out and cleaned his hands in the water outside the bubble, and then wiped his face down as well.

"Any more blood on me?" He asked as he turned back to face lance, his pile of putrid grass dwindling down to only three pieces in the time it had taken Keith to eat his fish. Lance sighed and licked his thumb and began preening him the way Keith was used to watching Lance's mother fuss over him. Before Keith could push Lance away though he saw two red and blue flashes come from over near where the city was.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Lance asked turning to follow Keith's line of vision.

"I saw something shoot towards the city."

"Then the temples will have to wait, let's go check it out." Lance dropped the last of the ligmint root from his hands and moved so that he was standing in front of Keith. "Wrap your arms around my neck, but be careful of my gills, it'll be faster if we swim." He looked back and gave an apologetic smile. "I know you don't like to get wet, but we don't know what you saw, and it could be dangerous, we need to get over there as quickly as possible." Keith nodded, he understood, stepping forward he wrapped his arms around Lance's neck, making sure his grip wasn't obstructing Lance's gills and then suddenly, the bubble was gone and they were shooting through the water. Lance was fast. He had never known the other prince could move like this in the water. As soon as the water pressure had settled on them Keith had noticed the space between Lance's fingers was now filled with a thin membrane that let the prince pull them through the water easily, his legs together acting as a tail to propel them forward. Before Keith even had time to think about how long he had been holding his breath and if he needed air soon or not, they were at the city's edge. The lights that Keith had seen had been two very large red and blue mechanical lions, both with a particle barrier up in their respective colors. Lance swam up to one of the buildings and shoved Keith inside, following just a tick after, the water draining below them and then another, secondary door hissing open behind them. Lance pulled the water from their clothes and ushered him into what appeared to be a bar. Keith stepped in, still reeling slightly from moving so fast through the water, but quickly got his bearings as he walked over to the window that was facing the lions.

"What are those things? What are they doing here?" Came a panicked voice running up to them. "Is it Galra?"

"No, that's not Galran, I don't know what it is, but I can promise that much for certain." Keith spoke up, his focus turning from the looming machines to the small crowd now swarming Lance.

"I will go check it out, but I need some of you to go check the area, make sure no one is hurt, and get everyone inside. We don't know if these machines are friend or foe and I don't want anyone getting caught in it's way if it turns out to be the latter." Lance ordered.

"Of course my prince!" a few beefier guys at the back of the bar saluted and exited the through the door to do as Lance had instructed.

"The rest of you stay here and don't leave until I figure out what's going on, alright?" Lance turned to go back outside and Keith caught his arm just before he reached for the first door.

"You are not going out there alone."

"You can't breathe out there, you are _not_ coming with me Keith." Lance's tone was final, but Keith was just as hard headed as his betrothed and he had a gut feeling the other boy would need him for this.

"And I don't care what you say, you are not stepping foot outside this building unless I am by your side." Keith demanded, adamant that he was not to lose this argument. He and lance stared at each other heatedly for quite some time before Lance sighed and looked away.

"Fine. I'll make you an air bubble, you inspect the red one while I check out the blue one." Keith nodded and stepped out with Lance as he opened the door, making sure it was shut tight before opening the second door back out into the open water. He made a mental note as Lance made a small air bubble around his head easily to ask later if all the buildings down here had drain chambers like that or if that bar was just special for some reason. He watched with rapt attention as Lance swam up to the head of the blue lion, touched the blue particle barrier and was just as shocked as Lance seemed to be when the glowing force field shattered under his touch. Lance had shot back instantly to a safe distance, but then just as quickly swam all the way up and touched the beast's nose. It's eyes began to glow and then before Keith could even register what had happened, before the scream to watch out could even be ripped from his throat, the lion's large mouth swooped in and engulfed Lance's body whole and the barrier went right back up. Keith felt numb as he sunk to his knees, the shock too great for him to even know how to handle what he had just witnessed. He felt empty, his blood running cold and his heart plummeting from his chest straight to the soles of his feet. No sounds or tears, just his mouth hanging open and his eyes wider than saucers. This wasn't real. Lance had to be alright. He hadn't just watched his fiancé get eaten alive by a giant metal cat. That wasn't what just happened. He had to be okay. He turned his firely glare onto the red lion next to him and punched the barrier.

"What just happened to him?!" He demanded. "Tell me he's okay!" his assault was slowed in the water, but he still felt it's regular power when he made contact with the red force field. It didn't even occur to him while he pounded away at the obstruction in his way that if Lance were truly dead, the air bubble keeping him from drowning should have dissolved as well. Just as suddenly as the blue lion's the red lion's barrier went down and Keith found himself submitting to the same fate as he watched the Red lion's eyes blink to life and it's head bend down to snatch him up just as the blue one had done to Lance. But unlike what he expected, inside the lion's mouth was dry and he was in one piece, still very much alive. Which, meant that Lance was still alive. He had to be. Keith scrambled to his feet and bounded up the small little ramp at the back of the lion's throat, and climbed the small ladder to poke his head into what looked to be a cockpit. These things were ships? But if that were true, then there was the potential that they could contact each other. Keith climbed up the rest of the way into the cockpit and up to the control panel, he felt a deep rumbling in the back of his mind that he really didn't recognize, but it seemed to be telling him how to hail the blue lion, so he followed the urging sensation and called out hesitantly.

"Lance? Lance please answer me! Lance, are you okay?" He didn't want to admit how much he was panicking right now. This was quite possibly the most terrifying thing he had ever encountered. None of the coming of age trials back on Galra had anything on the terror that gripped his heart in the excruciatingly long ticks it took for Lance to respond, but when he did he felt relief wash through him like a title wave. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he heard Lance's voice say his name through the speakers on the dash in front of him, he staggered back and sagged down into the pilot's chair behind him.

"Keith?"

Keith cursed crassly in relief, a shaky chuckle escaping past his lips. "You're alive. Thank the gods." Keith brought his hand up to rub at his face, trying to get his breathing and heart rate back under control.

"Yeah, I'm fine, a little shaken, but otherwise, fine."

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" He knew it wasn't Lance's fault, but he couldn't help snapping at him anyway. Lance was quiet on the other side of the comms and Keith almost felt like he should take those words back, but then he remembered just how helpless and weak he felt when he thought Lance had died and he never wanted to feel like that again. He took a breath to calm himself.

"How do you think these ships go here without a pilot?" Keith asked finally, not seeing any signs of any other life anywhere in the ship other than himself. Lance hummed on the other end.

"Maybe they flew themselves here?"

"Lance, be realistic."

"I am, they moved on their own didn't they? And since I've been inside it, the blue lion has been feeding her thoughts into my mind." It sounded crazy, but then, the red lion had seemed to do that same when he had wanted to talk to Lance. "Since you're contacting me like this, I assume you're inside the red lion, you can feel it too can't you? That rumble just behind your consciousness, and somehow you already know what it means."

"Yeah." Keith answered carefully, magic sentient robot lions didn't sit too well with him. If these two were real, that would mean his father's fervent hunt for the black one might not be as crazy of an endeavor as he had originally thought it to be. Before he could give it much more thought though, images were racing through his mind; a white and blue castle, a tall, tan woman with white cascading hair barking orders, Galra battle cruisers firing at the castle that seemed to be floating in space, so Keith could only assume it was a large ship of some sort. And then finally, it showed three other lions; yellow, green, and black, along with the blue and red one, all coming together and creating a larger still robotic being. A wave of power and awe washing through him with the last image, as if the red lion were telling him he should be impressed. A single word coming to mind after the images faded away, both he and Lance speaking it aloud as one; "Voltron."

"I thought it was a myth." Lance's voice was quiet, as if he weren't sure he wanted to believe his eyes.

"You saw it too?" Keith asked, just as jarred.

"As clear as day."

"You realize this means that my father is not actually going crazy, right?" Keith found his voice first, "We should find a way out of these lions as fast as we can." He urged hastily. When Lance agreed though, Keith felt the red lion start to move, and through his view screens that were lighting up, he saw the blue lion do the same. The lions were getting ready to take off, with Keith and Lance still trapped inside them. This was not good. Not at all.

"Keith, I can't make it land, what do I do?" Lance panicked. It sounded like he was frantically trying to press every button combination he could think of on his dashboard.

"Well for starters, stop button mashing, that could make things worse, we don't know what any of these controls do just yet." Keith was trying to stay calm. He really, truly was. He was positive that Lance was freaking out enough for the both of them, and one of them not thinking clearly was more than enough for the situation. Rather than going straight up though, it seemed that the lions were going away from the city and back the way Lance and Keith had originally come from, and when neither Lance or Keith could see Maritimus any longer, they began to ascend through Prata Neptunia's waters and into the atmosphere, the force alone slamming Keith back against the pilot's seat. And then, Lance was freaking out again as a very large, blue wormhole opened up in front of them, Keith could hear the other prince fighting against hyperventilating and he wanted nothing more than to be there next to him, holding Lance's head against his neck and stroking his back, reassuring him that everything would be fine, and that as long as they stayed together they would be alright. He wanted to hold Lance tight and never let go.

* * *

Notes: Well this chapter was a lot of fun to write and the only thing that kept popping up was "Poor Keith, he was not prepared to deal with this shit today."


	6. Black, Green, and Yellow Return

Black, Green, and Yellow return

Summary: We take a break from your regularly scheduled Klance to bring you; the Green, Yellow, and Black Paladins! Allura is pleased with her new paladins, but worried about Red and Blue's lag.

Also a few tags I made for this chapter on Ao3 that I am not able to make on here (I really wish FF had a better tagging system);

Yay! Pidge and Shiro bonding Background Relationships Shatt is there a better ship name for that? please tell me there is One sided Shallura Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt Shiro will probably take the longest adjusting to calling her Pidge Hunk is just excited to meet Shiro Allura is lowkey jealous of Pidge stealing her man Even though she hasn't called dibs AT ALL Matt called forever ago girl Shiro and Pidge have a sort of brother/sister relationship Shit's about to go down guys

I've been adding them as I post, if you want to know them let me know and I might just go back through and add the tags to their respective chapters so you guys can enjoy them too, like I love tagging stuff for this fic because it's just so much fun to see what already is a tag, and I can be silly with them too.

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The castle stood. They had managed to defend it long enough to get all the lions out and then were able to open a wormhole just before what Allura was sure was the finishing blast fired. Now they were on Arus. They were safe. They were alive. She let out a very undignified sigh as she collapsed down into one of the chairs on the bridge, slouching with her hand to her head. That was entirely too close.

"Coran, is our cloaking operational?"

"Yes, princess, that system seems to be just fine." Coran answered as he began running a castle wide diagnostic check.

"Good. Engage it. I don't want to be found by the Galra again until we have all five lions back with us and their new paladins."

"Understood." Coran replied, letting the scan continue on its own as he went over to the main controls to enable the cloaking and whatever other part of their defenses were still operational. They were in pretty bad shape. He didn't need the scan to tell him that much, he could feel it. The cryo sleep that Alfor had put them in had reached the end of it's count down and had awoken them ten thousand periods in the future, and the war was still happening, Zarkon himself was still in power. How that was possible neither Allura or he knew, but he was, and he was still searching for them. Still searching for Black. He hoped that whoever Black chose as her new paladin, that he would be strong enough to beat Zarkon, to lead Voltron. As it stood, whoever the lions brought back to them would have to learn to pilot and bond with their lions very quickly. Forming Voltron would be hard, but they had to do it. His heart went out to the new paladins. This wasn't going to be easy, and he just hoped they all survived it.

Black, was the first to come back. It had only taken her a few days to choose a new paladin. And the only thing Allura could think was; of course Black would know exactly who she wanted and be back so soon. She was the decisive head of Voltron. She always knew exactly who and what she wanted. This time around she had chosen a species called "human" or at least, that was what the man she brought back had said his species was called. This human's name was Takashi Shirogane, or, Shiro as he had introduced himself. She had made a point to be there as soon as Black landed in her hanger when she had seen her returning to the castle. She wanted to meet her new black paladin as soon as possible. She hadn't been expecting him to have Galra tech as an arm, but she supposed that everyone was paying some sort of price in this war, Shiro's price just happened to be his arm.

"It is wonderful to meet you Shiro, I am Princess Allura of Altea, and this is my ship, the Castle of Lions. I trust Black explained the situation to you?" She asked, bowing to the new head of Voltron with a slight tip of her head.

"She showed me some stuff about a war. I didn't know their reach was so vast, but I think I have a rough idea of what's going on. Though, she also showed me four other lions, but I don't see any others." Shiro looked around, as if that would reveal the other paladins to him.

"There are five lions total, yes. But you are the first to return. Black is the leader of Voltron, it only makes sense that she would be the first to choose her paladin. Though, even if you had been the last, the hanger you docked in is solely Black's. There would not be any of the other lions in it." Shiro nodded at Allura's answer, seeming to accept it.

"I'm not sure I'll make the best leader, especially to a team I don't know. But I'll give it my best. What the Black lion showed me is terrible and must be stopped."

Allura nodded. "That is all I can ask, though I am sure you will do just fine, otherwise the Black lion would not have chosen you. She believes that you are calm and steady. Concise and intuitive. She trusts you to be the level head of Voltron. Now, let me show you around." Allura smiled and gestured for Shiro to follow her out of the hanger bay. She chose to show him to his quarters first, figuring that would be the best place to start. "This room will be yours, if you need anything, please do let me or Coran know right away."

"Who's Croan?" Shiro asked, a brow raised.

"Coran in my advisor, but he is also the person who knows the most about this ship. If something is wrong, Coran will know how to fix it. Now this way to the training room and the dining hall."

While waiting for the others to show up Allura had gotten to know Shiro quite well, and she could honestly say that she liked the new black paladin quite a bit. He was strong and brave, he had escaped Galra captivity all on his own, though the details of said escape were fuzzy for him at best. She felt bad that her paladin was suffering so much at the hands of the Galra empire, but she assured him that as long as they had Voltron, they could stop Zarkon before he could hurt anyone else. They just had to wait for the other lions to return.

After waiting another three cycles, the Green lion showed up with a young human girl named Katie. It appeared that Shiro knew her, having instantly run up to hug her as soon as she had stepped out of the green lion's mighty mouth, an endless stream of incomprehensible apologies on his tongue. Though Allura did not know why, Katie had stated early on that she wished to be addressed as 'Pidge,' but she complied. As soon as Pidge had gotten settled into the Castle of Lions though, Allura found herself missing how much time she had just started getting used to spending with the new black paladin. He had nearly glued himself to Pidge's side the second he had seen her, the two always talking about the young girl's family, and Allura had not failed to notice the guilty look Shiro seemed to adopt any time the name "Matt" was spoken aloud. She learned soon after, that Pidge's father and brother were members of Shiro's crew, that they had also been taken by the Galra, and while Shiro had been able to escape, he had no idea what had become of Pidge's family. Pidge chose to firmly believe that both her father and her brother were alive and well, just waiting to be rescued.

"I don't believe you would have just abandoned them Shiro. Matt and my dad are probably both waiting for you to show up and rescue them. Imagine their surprise when I show up with you though!" She had laughed, and Shiro's eyes seemed to get a little softer as he pulled her into another tight embrace. She hugged him back and reassured him that she didn't hold him responsible at all, that she was sure that he had done everything in his power to keep her family safe like he had promised he would before they had left on their mission. Telling him that she knew he would never let anything happen to Matt. Allura felt a bit excluded from the tender moment, but had to remind herself that these two had clearly already been close before they were chosen to be her paladins. That meant that bonding should be easier for them. Even if Shiro had spent the whole first day telling Pidge she should go home. Allura understood that children fighting wars, let alone ones that were not their own, was wrong, but Green had chosen her. Green thought she was a good choice. And Pidge wanted to help. Allura had smiled when Pidge had declared, quite loudly, that she didn't care what Shiro thought, she _was_ going to help, and even if they were blood she still wouldn't listen to him on that.

"Katie, this is dangerous! How am I ever going to look your father in the eye again if I let you do this?!"

"You aren't letting me do anything, I'm telling you, I'm staying." And that had been the end of it. Pidge and Shiro spent a lot of the time waiting for the other lions in the training room. Shiro's reasoning was that if he was going to let her stay, he was at least going to make sure she could properly fight if the situation called for it. It warmed Allura's heart, but chilled the small fire that had been beginning to take flame in the pit of her stomach. Shiro would be spending more time with Pidge than he had been with her. Which, was good for the team. She shouldn't be jealous. And yet, there was that niggling feeling just out of reach, that she couldn't snuff out that said she wished Shiro would look at her with half the tenderness that he directed at Pidge. She sighed and shook her head. This was war. There was no time for silly crushes. She had to keep her head straight.

Following very closely after Green's arrival, after nearly a whole turn, was the Yellow lion and his Paladin; Hunk. They too were human. Allura had never encountered a time, nor could she recollect one where so many of the paladins were of the same race. But the lions never made a mistake when choosing their paladins. She trusted their judgment of the new Green, Black, and Yellow paladins. Though, it did make her wonder just who in the universe the Red and Blue lions would bring back. She showed him around just as she had Pidge and Shiro. It appeared that Hunk knew exactly who Shiro was as well, but he was not close to him as Pidge had been, claiming that he was one of the older boy's biggest fans. That he was the reason he had wanted to join the Garrison, whatever that was, Allura would have to ask later. Shiro had blushed quite the alarming shade of red at the praise and Pidge had just cackled, laughing harder when he tried to glare at her for laughing at him in the first place. Hunk smiled when he saw Pidge, someone his own age, and then his face twisted into a contemplative look before he broke out into a very large smile once more. She could see instantly why Yellow had chosen this boy.

"Hey! Aren't you Pidge Gunderson? I'm pretty sure we were in the same class at the Garrison!" Pidge had stopped laughing when he said that, shrinking under Shiro's questioning gaze.

"Um, about that. My real name is Katie Holt, but yeah, that was the name I was using at the Garrison." She flushed slightly and Shiro only sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shook his head, muttering "what am I going to do with you?" quietly under his breath. Pidge seemed to huff at that, crossing her arms over her chest before Hunk nodded understandingly, not even addressing the fact that most of Earth thought the team had died.

"So then, you're related to the guys that were on Shiro's team that went missing, right?"

"Yeah, my brother Matt and my dad are still out there somewhere, and I'm going to find them."

"So, you made a fake name to sneak into the Garrison to look for clues?" Hunk guessed. Allura smiled. He was sharp.

"Yeah, after getting kicked out once already under my real name."

"Katie!" Shiro exclaimed, mortified that she had been putting herself in so much danger and risking her future in such a way.

"You guys were gone! Of course I was going to look for you! They said it was pilot error, that the ship went down and you guys had died, no one who actually knew you would ever believe that was true Shiro! You were so ready for that mission! I knew they were hiding something!"

"Even still!"

"So, you like, know Siro personally?" Hunk had interjected, and Allura could tell he was simply trying to ease the tension that was building in the small common room.

"Oh, yeah. Shiro was always over at my place, even before the Kerberos mission was assigned, I mean he and Matt were dating after all."

"Katie!" Shiro had practically screeched, the blush on his face springing back to life as the girl by his side divulged such private information to their new teammate. Allura would have to inquire later as to what 'dating' meant exactly, but for now, she was content just watching her paladins interact.

"No way! Really? I mean there were rumors going around, but, for real?!" Hunk was grinning ear to ear, as he and Katie went on talking about Shiro's love life to the other man's dismay. The black paladin looked like he just wanted to crawl into a hole and die with the way he curled in on himself on the couch, his face in his hands and his ears beyond scarlet.

"God, how Matt puts up with you is a mystery." He muttered, his voice muffled by his hands, but it was quite clear that he felt close to miserable.

"Don't worry, I don't judge, you can date whoever you want." Hunk grinned, slapping a hand on Shiro's back, and pulling him into a tight side hug. Allura had no worries any longer about these three bonding and forming a very close team. But where in the universe were Red and Blue? They should have been back by now. The longer they waited to show up, the harder it was going to be to integrate into this small little family that had started to form. All of them had known each other in one way or another, so how could the Red and Blue paladins afford to wait any longer if they wished to be close enough to form Voltron?

Coran had quickly taken a liking to the new paladins, especially the green and yellow ones. Hunk, it appeared was a brilliant engineer and was able to easily help Coran fix nearly any mechanical failure that seemed to be thrown their way. And Pidge, well she was a genius in her own way. She had helped Coran with many technical malfunctions, upgrading the castle's systems easily, despite not knowing the slightest bit of Altean. Hunk also seemed to be very passionate about cooking. He had designated the kitchen to be his domain and had taken over cooking nearly every meal since arriving as soon as Coran had explained to him how all the gadgets had worked. He may not have known exactly what he was doing, or what the food he was handling was exactly, but Allura had to admit that he was quite skilled and that everything he made was simply delicious.

"So, how far out are we exactly?" Pidge asked Coran casually as she strolled onto the bridge. Coran had been looking over data crystals, making sure everything was ship shape and ready for take off whenever Red and Blue decided to come back. He looked up from his work for only a split tick to acknowledge Pidge, before diving right back in.

"That depends, by that do you mean from Earth, or in the general sense of the universe?"

"Hmm, both I suppose. Do you know either off the top of your head?"

"Not in the slightest. But I do know that it is a great distance for both." Coran didn't hesitate to answer. Pidge snorted. That much was obvious. She had been on this castle ship for roughly three weeks now already and she was getting impatient.

"Are we planning to leave this planet at all any time soon?" She had a universe to save and family to find. She couldn't afford to be sitting here idle much longer.

"We can't leave just yet. We have to wait for the other two lions to return. I am a bit surprised it's taking them so long considering that they were the first two we released." Coran stood straight again, petting at his mustache as he contemplated his own statement. "Not to mention that out of the five, Red and Blue are the fastest."

"Maybe something happened to them then?"

"I should hope not, we can not form Voltron without all five lions."

Pidge groaned. "Fine. Is there a way to track them at all then? To figure out roughly where they are or if they got captured or something? What if one of them went into Galra heavy airspace?"

"Miss Pidge, I admire your concern for them, but the lions would not get caught so easily, they will be fine."

"I'd still like to see if I can find them or not."

"They will return once they find a suitable paladin, just as did Green, Black, and Yellow did, do not worry, I am sure it will not be much longer." Coran assured her, and she didn't want to leave it at that, but it was obvious that that was all she was going to get out of the older Altean. Well, if she was going to be stuck here, she supposed she could at least indulge Shiro's overprotective request to spend a few hours in the training hall every day. She could understand how having basic hand to hand combat skills could be useful in a war.

It wasn't until after what they had all decided was dinner time that Allura called over the castle's intercoms excitedly that both Red and Blue were on their way back and that they should all get down to the hangar bays to meet their new teammates as soon as possible. She was obviously very excited, and the three humans could hardly match her speed as she zoomed down the hallways, practically levitating in her haste.

"Princess, I don't think you need to rush, they'll still be there regardless of when we get there." Shiro chuckled as she tried to hurry them into the lift with her. Hunk and Coran were the first to enter next her, followed closely by Shiro, who was dragging Pidge with him. Once they were all in the lift Allura slapped the button for the general hallway leading to all of the hanger bays.

"That may be, but I am still excited to see who the lions chose!" The ride was short and Allura shot out as soon as the doors opened, heading straight for Blue's hanger bay first. When she didn't see the mighty lion in her room though she furrowed her brow in mild confusion. That was odd, she could have sworn she had seen both of them come out of that wormhole. Oh well, she would just have to check on Red first then. Slower this time she turned on her heel and started for the next hanger over, her hand coming up to tap at her chin as she tried to think of why Blue wouldn't dock immediately. The other paladins and coran followed her quietly, simply leaving her to her own thoughts.

"I thought the lions didn't share hangers." Hunk spoke up first as they entered Red's room just as Blue was landing next to her.

"They usually do not. This is quite odd, but at least this way we can meet both of them at the same time." Allura's frown turned to a small smile easily enough as she approached them.

"Brave new paladins of Voltron! I welcome you to the Castle of Lions! I am Princess Allura of Altea." She smiled wide and opened her arms in a grand gesture. All four of the others could tell she was beyond excited. Now, they just had to wait for the new paladins to come out.

* * *

Notes:

Okay, so writing this chapter was a little harder than I anticipated, but it was still fun. Also one sided Shallura and Shatt! (Is there a better ship name for them that I just don't know of? I feel like there should be.) I liked both pairings but decided I didn't want to cross that inter-species relationship bridge right now. I've already got enough on my plate with the Klance. In my head Lance and Keith keep arguing about if it's even possible for their species to have children together and it keeps making them upset because they both want them. (just, you know, later.) Lance is just like "Keith! Knock me up dammit!" and Keith is just sitting there like; "babe, I'd love to, but there are a few problems with that, one; no sex yet, makes reproduction kinda hard. Two, we don't even know if that's possible between us yet. And three, Not fucking yet! I'm not together enough to have my own kids, no matter how hot the thought of pregnant you sounds!"

There may or may not have been a small scene of them talking about it written out for the fic. Lance is expecting one, Keith is just sitting there like "good luck with that, Galra have litters!"

haha oh well

Also, I was super tired while writing the end of this chapter, pretty much the whole Allura greeting Red and Blue scene I was running on fumes, and while writing I made a few errors (I should have fixed them all, bless FrostyTrish, seriously, she's the best.) but I think my favorite one I had made was when Allura was introducing herself. I had accidentally typed "I am princess Altea" while trying to type Princess Allura and it just made me giggle, we both did actually. XD It was kinda great "Princess Altea of Planet Allura" was then teasingly tossed around for a few minutes, but it was all good. Please, if I missed any typos or small little mistakes while editing, that was why and I would love someone to point them out for me because it'll probably take a few days to notice them myself with how much sleep I've been averaging lately.

I love you all and comments feed my soul, please tell me what you think.

Also, if you care to, please tell me how mean you think I should be to Matt, I intend for him to be found, but should I have him be slightly depressed and resenting the Galra and what they have done to him/subjected him to? Or should he be dealing with his lot the bet he can? I have ideas for both but it's hard to pick between them. Please tell me what you think and it might help me make up my mind.

~ Evi


	7. The Gravity of it All

Summary:

Lance is all on board, until the girls decided to gang up on Keith, then all bets are off. He wants to be a paladin, but between trying to keep his planet from being destroyed by his crazy future father in law, and keeping these crazy judgmental girls from tearing his future mate apart, he's having a hard time making a decision.

The choice seems obvious to Keith.

* * *

Notes:

Holly hell. I knew that this chapter was going to be longer, but seriously, this got a way from me a bit. So much needed to happen and it definitely did. This is nearly double the regular length of the other chapters. And so much drama too. Poor Keith, this day is just not his day. First he fears for Lance's life and now he has to deal with all this bullshit? Nah uh, he just wants to go home, and cuddle with Lance until all of his stress goes away.

* * *

Lance was still shaking when the lions landed. Sure, he had wanted some adventure before he had to take over his father's crown, he had even wanted to fly his own ship, but not like this! This was not what he signed up for when he had gone to inspect the blue lion. Getting kidnapped from his planet, and flown through a wormhole to who-knew-where, was _not_ his idea of a good time, thank you very much. He hadn't even noticed Allura when he tried to scramble to his feet. All he knew was Blue had put her head down and that she was telling him that she would let him out now. He needed Keith. This was so far out of his comfort zone that if he didn't find something familiar soon he wasn't sure what he would do. Lance took off in a mad dash out of the blue lion's mouth, down the small ramp, and straight over to Red, completely ignoring the small group of people gathering around the frightening beasts.

"Keith! Open up!" He shouted desperately, pounding on the red lion's chin, his hair was a mess from slouching in his chair in Blue and his eyes were blown wide and wild. It didn't take long for Red to open her mouth and let Lance dash inside and practically throw himself at his soon to be mate. He nuzzled his face into the juncture between Keith's neck and shoulder and held him tight around the neck as if his life depended on how tight he could cling to the Galra prince. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get us kidnapped! I'm sorry I thought you were being paranoid when you kept telling me I should be more careful! I don't know where we are, how are we going to get back, what are we going to do when our parents find out we're gone?! Will they even believe the story that we were taken by giant mechanical lions?!" He was talking a mile a minute and Keith could only hug him back just as tightly. He knew Lance had been okay when he saw the other over the comms, but holding him in his arms now was doing wonders for his own frayed nerves. He made a point to take a few deep breaths before he tried to calm down the erratic mess that was Lance at the moment. He carded one hand through Lance's hair and let the other rub gently up and down the other prince's back.

"It's okay, we're together, and we're both still alive so I'm sure whatever is going on, we can handle it." He had wanted to run to Lance's side as soon as they landed as well, but the small group forming below them had given him reason to pause. He did not know if they were friend or foe, and the Galra had a lot of foes. If the woman was telling the truth about being Altean then he _really_ didn't think she'd like him all that much.

"We couldn't even handle landing those lions back on the ground before they took off!"

"Yes, well, now we have landed, and there are people out there waiting for us to come out."

"Huh?" Lance lifted his head from Keith's shoulder to look out Red's view screen to see a group of five very confused looking beings.

"The woman with white hair said she was Altean."

"That's impossible."

"Regardless of if she's telling the truth or not, I doubt she's going to be too thrilled to see me."

"Especially if she finds out who you are."

"Then we should keep our titles to ourselves for the time being. We don't know why we were brought here and so we should keep cautious."

"How are you handling this so well?" Lance pouted, turning his attention once more back to Keith.

"Well if we both are panicking, who knows what might happen." Keith smirked, kissing Lance on the forehead tenderly. Keith turned his attention to the control panel next to him when he felt Red rumble in his mind again, she was telling him to press an intercom button. That would probably be a good start. Reaching out he pressed the instructed buttons and pulled Lance with himself closer to the dash so he could operate it a little better.

"Princess Allura, I believe you said it was, it's nice to meet you, but where exactly are we?" Keith asked, his voice echoing slightly off the walls of the large hanger. She seemed to smile up at the red lion, clasping her hands together at her chest as she nodded.

"I am, and you are docked in the Red lion's hanger in the Castle of Lions, my ship." She answered simply.

"Yeah, but, _where_ are we?" Lance asked weakly. Despite what he liked to think, he was not good when suddenly whisked away from his home to unknown places.

"Currently, we are on Arus."

"Arus?! How did we get all the way out there?!" Lance was starting to freak out again. "That's so far away! No one is going to look all the way out here for us!"

"Lance, calm down." Keith softly stroked at Lance's gills with the pads of his thumbs, a trick he had picked up that seemed to help the other boy calm down faster when he was stuck too deep in his own head. "Everything will be okay." He spoke calm and steady, coaxing him into slowing his breathing back down, their words broadcasted still through the hanger.

"It sounds as though you two are quite close, I am glad. That will make bonding easier." Allura smiled.

"Bonding?" Keith echoed, slightly confused, but he kept the bulk of his attention still on Lance, not wanting him to hurt himself in his panic.

"Yes, if you are to be Paladins of Voltron you will have to bond with your fellow teammates and your respective lions."

"Excuse me, Princess, um," Lance seemed to be doing better, though his voice still shook slightly as he addressed the figurehead of the group. "No disrespect, but, what are you talking about? We are not paladins of anything, let alone a myth like Voltron."

"The lions showed it to you, did they not?"

"Well yes, but Voltron hasn't been seen for ten thousand periods, obviously it's just a legend."

"You are standing inside a giant sentient robot lion, and you still do not believe?"

"Look, all I am saying is that this is a hard pill to swallow." Lance argued back.

"Princess, I do not think we have the full picture here. Yes, these lions showed us Voltron, and this ship, and you, fighting a Galra battle cruiser, but that is all they told us. We were brought here against our will, kidnapped from the waters of the Prata Neptunian sea, only to find out we are lightyears from any sort of safe place that we know."

"Ah! It's been ages since I've seen a Prata Neptunian! Wonderful people those guys!" cried a man with vibrant orange hair, standing just behind Allura. "It makes sense that Blue would pick someone from your planet, but Red doing so as well, that is a bit strange."

"I am not Prata Neptunian." Keith answered curtly. He really didn't want to reveal himself as Galra just yet, but he could at least admit to what he was not.

"Then what are you and what were you doing there?" the same man asked, he didn't sound like he was trying to interrogate Keith, rather he simply sounded curious.

"Um, what's Prata Neptunia?" the large boy next to him voiced quietly.

"It is a planet almost completely covered in water! The people there are something else too!"

"Coran, please calm down, we don't wish to scare them off." Allura smiled warmly then turned back to them. "Paladins, please, come down so we can meet you properly." She held such hope in her voice. "It will be easier to discuss exactly what our goal is if we were face to face."

"And it would be easier to trust you lot if we knew your goal before we came out." Keith offered back. Lance took a deep breath as he finally seemed to come back to his senses fully. Keith still kept his grip firmly around his waist though, just in case. Allura nodded but before she could speak up, the smallest of the group stepped forward;

"We're gonna kick Zarkon's ass, now are you helping or not?" Keith felt Lance tense up in his arms once more and he couldn't help but feel the same tension in his own body. That wasn't something they could do.

"Your aim is the destruction of the Galra Empire?" He whispered, shocked. He hadn't even noticed the words had actually left his mouth until he heard the little green one confirm it. "That is impossible. Zarkon has been in power for far too long, and the Galra have their roots just as deep in some planets as their claws are in others." He fired back, his voice stronger this time. "You can not honestly expect to win."

"We can and we will. We have to." Allura's voice left little room for argument, but Keith was argumentative by nature, and pushed on.

"Then you will have to find someone else to help you."

" … Do you really think you can do it?" Lance's voice wasn't very loud and he was standing farther away from the mic, but the words rang out still. Keith looked to Lance in mild confusion.

"Lance. We can not help them. Even if they could win, and that is a big if, think about it. You would be risking too much."

"I want to help though. I want him off the throne, a man like him can not stay in power."

"That is not our decision to make. Galra and Prata Neptunia have peace, you would throw that away for something that is not even guaranteed to work? Your planet will be destroyed, your people slaughtered, there is no winning. If you play by his rules he will keep his promise not to hurt you."

"I was not aware there were any planets at peace with the Galra Empire." Allura announced.

"I didn't know the Galra Empire even knew what peace was." The man next to her added sarcastically, and it was only then that Keith actually looked at him. His eyes widened. The Champion. Now he knew they couldn't go out there. The Champion would of course recognize them. He and Lance had been to several of his fights while he had been in the arena. His father had had Lance himself announce the human as the new Champion when he had won the title. Keith pressed the intercom button again to turn it off and sat down in the pilot's chair, bringing Lance with him to sit him in his lap. This was really dangerous. There was no way the human would trust them, and if one of their own did not trust them, then of course the others would be quick to follow.

"Keith?" Lance asked quietly, cupping Keith's fluffy cheeks in both of his hands carefully, his thumbs rubs small steady circles at the small silky tufts of fur there as he spoke. "What is wrong my love?"

"They have the Champion."

"Then they are well armed."

"That also means that if we step foot outside this vessel that we will be recognized. Do you not remember that it was you yourself that announced him as Champion after that fight?" Keith looked directly into Lance's eyes, holding him there as the circles on his cheeks came to a still.

"Are you sure that it is the same human?"

"He has the same cybernetic arm Lance, it can only be him." Keith brang his left hand up to cover Lance's right one on his cheek and leaned into the gentle touch, twisting his head in Lance's hold so that he could nuzzle the soft skin of Lance's palm. He took in Lance's calming scent; fresh, cool sea water and warm sunshine. He breathed it in, savoring it, letting it run through his veins to tell his brain that the only thing he needed to worry about, was keeping his almost mate safe from harm. They just had one more period, and Keith would be damned if he let something happen to the tan aquatic boy in his arms now after waiting for so long.

"The Champion is strong." Lance said after a moment, he was blatantly ignoring the problem but Keith let him speak. "If he is on their side then surely there is at least a sliver of hope." Lance's voice was weak even to his own ears. As if he were trying not to think of the point Keith had brought up at all.

"Lance, we can not help them. They could never trust me, and by extension, you, not to mention that it is treason for both of us. Your people will be in danger. The treaty is not yet solidified until we are wed, and if my father thinks that we have betrayed him, he will not hesitate to go to war with your people. It will be bloody and messy, and I am sure both sides will suffer great loss before your people are dealt with, but it is a loss you and I both know he is more than willing to accept."

"I want to hear her out at least. Maybe they have a plan? Maybe they could, or, already have allied themselves with the Blade?"

"Have you heard such news from your contacts within the Blade?"

"They do not tell me everything Keith, just what they think I should know, places to stay away from, and when they need my assistance with something. How did you even know I have contacts within them though? I was trying to keep you out of it so you would not have to worry."

"My love, there are not many things you can keep secret from me." Keith smiled, kissing the inside of Lance's palm before turning his head back to face him. "That, and the Lieutenant himself told me that he had told you who he was working with a little after he came to you." Lance pouted at that, but let it go with a labored sigh.

"Even still, I want to hear them out, we can talk practicality later."

"There is nothing to talk about Lance, we have to decline."

"I can't just stand by and do nothing while Zarkon destroys other people's homes and lives, while I know that my own is safe. Do you know how many other planets hate us now? They call us traitors for agreeing to Zarkon's terms for peace. Many had believed that our people could have lead a rebellion against Zarkon."

"Then those people did not know your people very well. You would not have risen a hand against him. I know this because I have seen your people. They are kind and accepting of all. This was the only way your father was able to assure your planet's survival. And I never would have found you had he not agreed. My love, I know this is not ideal, I know that this is hard and that many other planets do not understand what sort of a wall my father had you backed into in order for all of this to have happened. But I know that it has all worked out for the best. Do not throw it all away for something so impossible. You can like an idea in theory, but you know that if they get the chance they will try to kill my father, and I know that you would not be able to be part of that."

"Perhaps not, but I need to at least try. Perhaps I could help them get in contact with the Blade then? We could send them supplies? Anything. I just wish to help as many resistance causes as I can."

"I know." Keith lifted his hand from Lance's and reached across the small gap to bring Lance's head closer to his own, pulling him in for a small, sweet kiss. It was just as much for himself as it was for Lance. "We can hear them out." he continued as he pulled away a few seconds later. "But I insist that we do not accept."

"We can make that call once we know for sure what sort of plan they have." Lance looked back to the screen to see that the group was still trying to talk to them, but Keith must have hit the mute button as well since he could not hear any of what they were trying to say. Getting up out of Keith's lap was not easy, he felt at home there, safe. But they couldn't have this sort of conversation indirectly. He offered Keith his hand and smiled as confidently as he could, which, at the moment wasn't as confident as he wished it were. Keith hesitated just a moment before Lance commented;

"Come on prince Keith, are you scared of a small meet and greet?" he teased half heartedly. It was clear though that Lance too was not feeling quite as at ease as he wished Keith to believe he was. Sighing in exasperation Keith took Lance's hand and they disembarked the Red lion together. This was a bad idea. Keith knew it. Knew he should have demanded Lance listen to him, but his instinctual need to make Lance happy had won him over. He heard their gasps before he even looked out to see the horrified expressions he knew accompanied those sounds. He shut his eyes and simply waited for the accusations to start flying. Lance's grip on his hand tightened and he felt the younger boy move to stand between him and the group as soon as the princess acknowledged his race.

"You're Galra." She sounded betrayed.

"Is that a problem Princess?" Lance asked, his voice much steadier now than it had been inside the red lion's cockpit.

"He's the enemy! Your stupid lion brought back an enemy pilot!" The little one screeched, turning on the princess. "You said you trusted those things and that they never made a mistake when picking paladins, I guess you spoke too soon, no wonder he said he couldn't help, he'll probably give our location away!"

"Pidge, maybe we should get to know him first, I mean, not _all_ Galra can be bad, right? Statistically speaking, that's impossible. There has to be at least a few good ones out there." The large one spoke up almost immediately in their favor. Lance decided then that he liked that one.

"I am Lance, of Prata Neptunia, and this is my betrothed, Keith. Yes, he is Galra, but as stated before, our planet's are at peace. You have no need to worry about him. If anything, it is us who should be wary of you."

"That doesn't mean that _we're_ at peace with the Galra." The champion growled as he activated his arm and took a defensive stance in front of the princess, and both Lance and Keith felt their blood run cold. Did he recognize them, was he going to try to kill them? Lance brought his hand up in front of him, at the ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. There wasn't much, if any water around them, and so that left him with few options should it come down to a fight. But it seemed that it wouldn't be necessary. Allura stepped up, holding her arm out to move the champion behind her once more.

"I do trust the lions. Though, I wonder what exactly Red was thinking picking a young Galra boy to be her paladin." She sounded as if she was at least trying to be accepting, but her voice was still strained. Keith's eyes snapped open and he had to hold himself back from snarling at the Altean woman. That certainly would not instill any sort of good will between them. Not only was she poorly hiding her disdain, which he understood, but she had insinuated that he was a child!

"I beg your pardon princess, but I am not a child. I am of age in my culture." he ground out, trying to keep his flaring anger under control. That was probably the biggest thing he disliked when meeting a new species, they assumed that because he was shorter than Lance, that he was also younger. Lance though, it seemed was having difficulties stifling his small laugh at his fiancé's expense.

"I apologize then." Allura's voice was curt as she frowned.

"May I suggest, Allura, that we move this elsewhere?" The older man at her side suggested as he stroked his mustache.

"I'm seconding Coran's on, let's just try and talk this out. I mean, yeah, Keith is a Galra, but Red chose him, and you said so yourself that you trusted the lions. Let's give him a shot."

"Hunk, the Galra are our enemy, we can't have one of their own as a paladin!" Pidge, if Lance remembered her name correctly, interjected. Lance wanted to disagree, but the Champion had still yet to disarm himself and he was not ready to challenge an arena champion on even terms, or ever for that matter.

"I promise that neither Keith or myself are a threat to you, so please, Champion, could you disengage?" Lance smiled his warmest smile and Keith was left wondering where he was getting the courage to do so when he knew for a fact that Lance was scared stiff.

"Shiro." The Champion corrected as he powered down his arm and returned to a more casual stance. Lance cocked his head to the side, in mild confusion before his eyes brightened and he smiled for real.

"Is that your name Champion?"

"Yes, but why do you keep calling me that? I'm not a champion of anything."

"Do you not remember your many battles in the arena?" Keith asked, finally speaking up, if he did not remember his time in that horrible place, then perhaps it was safe to say that he did not remember them either?

"No. I don't remember anything from my time in Galra captivity." Shiro answered, his brows furrowing. "What are you talking about?"

"It is best you do not remember. They were not pleasant times." Lance supplied as he too lowered his arm, finally sure the threat was over.

"You knew me from back then?" Shiro raised a brow, his voice questioning, yet hesitant, as if he himself did not fully believe he wanted the answer to his own question.

"There were few who had not heard of you, Cha- Shiro." He corrected himself, noticing the slight way that seemed to help relax the battered warrior just slightly.

"What's the arena?" Hunk asked, his voice curious.

"A barbaric sport that the Emperor, and most of the Galra population enjoys spectating. They pit prisoners against one another in gladiatorial combat. The victor advances to the next round, and the loser is dead." Lance explained, his voice growing quiet as he came to that particular part of his explanation. "The more battles you win the higher you rank, until you have taken down the reigning champion, then you inherit the title and wait for a new challenger to try and take the title from you. The longer you can keep the title the more modifications they allow the druids to make to your body to enhance the difficulty for new challengers." He continued. Simply talking about it was making Lance feel sick. He was quite thankful for the hand that Keith placed on his shoulder after he finished, the gentle squeeze grounding him in the here and now. The others were quiet as they let Shiro take in the new information.

"That's just sick and wrong." Pidge finally spoke out.

"I wholeheartedly agree." Lance acceded, his gaze shifting to the ground.

"Why would they do that?"

"The Galra people pride themselves on their strength, the games are simply sport to us, watching other races battle for their lives and to see who can come out on top is thought of as prime entertainment." Keith answered Hunk's inquiry. "So much so, that it is even considered a family event to attend the gladiator fights." The others seemed to have mixed reactions, but none quite as strongly as Pidge and Allura.

"You sick bastards!"

"That is beyond cruel." They both spoke in unison.

"It's not unheard of though." Hunk offered quietly. "The Romans did similar things in the past, and I'm sure they weren't the only ones."

"Who's side are you on?!" Pidge yelled at him, Hunk seemed to shrink back some at the outburst.

"I'm just playing devil's advocate over here. You can't assume every Galra is bad, just like you can't say every German was a Nazi. It's not true. In fact one of the best spies we had in that war was a German, so maybe Keith being on our side could be just as helpful. You also can't fault one person for something that they have no control over. It's not like Keith can just walk up to Zarkon and tell him to stop holding the Gladiator games. If it's such a big part of his culture then it must have been around for quite a while." Shiro sighed as Hunk finished his explanation.

"Hunk's right you guys. I mean, it'll take some getting used to, but …"

"I won't stand for it. How do we know we can trust him?! Just because the lions picked them doesn't mean I did."

"We didn't pick this either. These things just showed up in the capital city and started scaring my people! I went to investigate them and was captured by the Blue lion. Keith thought I had died!" Lance argued, glaring at the small girl that was currently returning the glare twice as vehenemately.

"Not to mention that no sooner had we come to terms with what the lions were, we were shown sporadic images and then abducted, flown against our wills through a wormhole and halfway across the universe away from either of our planets." Keith picked up. "We have just as much doubt in our minds to trust you as you do us." He wasn't used to Lance showing any sort of animosity, but he understood why. He had always felt strongly when other races showed their distrust in him, was always the first to jump in to defend Keith against anyone who might dare to speak ill of him. Though, Keith supposed he shouldn't be surprised to see Lance so visibly angry. He was bound to pick up a few Galra traits after such exposure to the worst of it.

"Okay, let's take a step or two back here and talk like civilized people rather than yelling at eachother. That won't help anyone. Shiro, why don't you, Pidge and the Princess take them up to the common room and Coran and I can make something to eat. No one can be mad when there's good food around." Hunk smiled. Keith wanted to ask him what his definition of the word "good" was, but figured that would step on too many toes and so, held his tongue. Shiro shook his head as he stepped aside.

"Alright. That sounds a little better than a screaming match in a hanger." Lance watched as Shiro started pulling Pidge towards the door and eyed Hunk and Coran already leaving. He didn't really want to be left alone with the three people who seemed the most hostile towards them, but he supposed he really didn't have much of a choice at this point. Shiro didn't remember them and that was about the only saving grace that Lance could find in this situation so far, but how long would that memory loss last if they spent enough time together. Matt would at least be happy to know that the other man was safe. Now, if only he could risk telling him that the reverse was still true as well. He could feel Allura's steely gaze on him and Keith both as they slowly followed the other Paladins out the door, Lance clinging tightly to Keith's arm as all seven of them packed themselves into the lift.

"Any requests?" Hunk asked, obviously trying to break the tension hanging in the air.

"As long as it's not too salty or Ligmint root, I'll be fine with it." Keith offered dryly. Lance gave him a deadpan look before adding his own two cents;

"Just, no raw meat, please." Apparently Hunk thought he was funny because he soon heard the larger boy start laughing.

"Got it, not too salty, cooked meat, and no ligmint root, whatever that is."

"It is a Prata Neptunian delicacy that my fiancé seems to think will kill him if he eats it." Lance huffed.

"Only my tastebuds."

"And I keep telling you that it's good."

"And I know I've told you that I would rather eat literally anything else."

"So you've proven. Like a raw fish, blood, scales and all, was it really better?" Lance sassed.

"Well I don't think you will have to worry about that, my boy." Coran chuckled. "We don't have any ligmint root on board." he smiled and Keith returned the smile hesitantly.

"Well, at least there is that small gift then, and yes. It was better."

"Princess, guys, any requests you want to make?" Hunk asked again, looking to the other three occupants of the small compartment.

"I am sure whatever you two make will be wonderful Hunk." Allura's tone was clipped, and she had yet to take her eyes off of Keith since entering the small space. It seemed to Lance that she wanted to trust them, but was having a hard time allowing herself to. This was nothing new to the two boys, but usually they had their titles to rely on and the other parties were less likely to show their distrust so openly to royalty.

"Whatever." Pidge snarked, her head turning to face away from the two princes as she finally managed to pull her wrist free from Shiro's grasp.

"Whatever you want to make will be fine Hunk." Shiro smiled tiredly as he looked at the shorter paladin. There was a ding and then everyone started to move to exit the cramped space. Lance and Keith chose to exit last, waiting until all of the others were safely off the lift before even moving from their spot. The group followed Allura and Shiro to the common room as Coran and Hunk continued on ahead to the kitchen. Lance took a seat next to Keith on the couch, pulling the Galra's hand into his lap to keep as his anchor. He watched Keith as he noticed the other prince mentally map out the whole room, taking note of each doorway and how long it would take him to get both himself and Lance out if something were to happen. Lance gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled to him.

"Love, calm down. They just want to talk, it is not an interrogation."

"We still are unwelcomed guests here. I would prefer to keep the surprises to a minimum." But Keith still returned the gesture, tightening his grip in Lance's hands just slightly.

"If I might ask, Lance, why do you show such affection to this Galra?" Allura asked, her eyes trained on Keith the whole time she spoke, meeting his glare at such a prod at his character. Lance sighed and let his fingers play across Keith's hand as he chose his words carefully.

"Princess, on my planet, I was taught to only judge a person on their actions alone and not the actions of their people as a whole. When I was young, Keith was introduced to me and it was decided that we would be wed. Our families wished for our houses to be combined to show just how far this treaty of peace could go. Now, arranged marriages are nearly unheard of on my planet, so of course I was displeased when I first learned that such a decision had been taken from me. But then I got to know Keith. We spent much time together, six periods now, and I can honestly say that I doubt I could love anyone as much as I love Keith. Regardless of what he is, but for who he is. It has taken quite a bit of getting used to because both of our cultures are nearly complete opposites, but we try, and we make it work."

"You've been engaged for six years?" Pidge asked, as if she did not believe him.

"When the idea was proposed I was not yet twelve, and Keith was already fourteen. It is not customary for a Galra to mate until at least eighteen, and I can not bear children until the same age. And since procreation is a very large part of why the Galra mate, it only made sense that the wedding would be put off until I was of age, next period. Subsequently, this is also when the peace treaty is to be finalized, with our union."

"Why wait until you two are married?" Shiro couldn't help but ask.

"What do you mean, you can have kids, aren't you male?" Pidge seemed to have her own questions as well. Keith decided to take over at that point, looking Shiro in the eye as he spoke.

"So it is more binding is the simple way to explain it."

"But wouldn't that mean you two are from pretty important families?"

"That really should not be of any concern to you. Who our families are is not who we are." He then turned his attention onto Pidge and spoke again; "And yes, right now Lance is male, but his people are fluid with their sex, he can be either gender as he so wishes. He just feels most comfortable taking form as male most times. Though," He smirked, side eyeing Lance slyly. "I do not quite understand why with how much he is similar to his mother." he teased. Lance squawked indignantly.

"What is that supposed to mean? Gender roles are nonexistent on my planet, it is only on yours that I have such problems as seeming too feminine."

"Fascinating, so anyone of your people can carry a child?" Pidge inquired further. It was clear that her curiosity was winning over her distrust for the time being, but how long that would last, Keith couldn't tell.

"Of course, that is why we do not care if two people who prefer to present themselves as the same sex most times do choose to wed, because if they want children, it is not a problem."

"From what I remember, your people are pacifists, are they not?" Allura asked pointedly.

"We are, and yes, the Galra are not, but that was one of the main reasons that our planet decided to take Zarkon up on his offer of peace. We would not be able to fight back. We have the ability, but lack the heart to commit any ill deeds towards anyone, regardless of how they treat us or others." Lance cast his gaze down to the ground. "Many planets see us as traitors, but, we had no other options."

"Which, is why we can not help you. It would be risking too much."

"I believe that is Lance's decision to make, not yours."

"You want him to throw away all the lives on his planet? For something you don't even know will actually work?"

"Zarkon must be stopped. By any means necessary."

"You are no better than he is if that is what you truly believe." Keith had had enough of this, they had come to talk strategy and that was the one topic that had yet to come up, and if Allura thought that 'any means necessary' was an actual means to an end when dealing with someone of the same mind set, she was sorely mistaken.

"Excuse me?! I am nothing like that monster!" Allura's anger flared up once more, her face turning slightly redder at Keith's words.

"He is exactly the same way! He does not care how many of his men die as long as his goal is reached in the end. Collateral damage does not even register for him! You are saying that you will take him down by doing whatever it takes, and "whatever it takes" is going to cause a bloodbath."

"We are the defenders of the universe-"

"And what will be left of this universe you are trying to defend if you do not take all precautionary measures while fighting him?!"

"More than will be left if he is allowed to continue his ways!"

"Then come up with a strategic plan of action! Do not charge him head on guns blazing, hoping that no one will get caught in the crossfire, because they will. He will use any means he can to deter you. He will send in distractions and prisoners as suicide bombers, anything he thinks will weaken you in any way possible. One of these ways, if we join you, will be the destruction of Prata Neptunia." He paused. "You can say any means necessary all you want, but if that means sacrificing innocent lives just because you think it is for the greater good, then you have no right to judge Zarkon on anything he does. You forfeit the right to argue his morals or fight him on anything you disagree with. Because you will be doing exactly the same thing."

"Keith." Lance sighed, placing one of his hands on Keith's knee, trying to get him to simmer down. Allura was fuming quietly in her seat, refusing to look anywhere near the both of them.

"She is asking the impossible of you Lance, we both know that neither of us are in a position to fight Zarkon, and if we do-"

"I have been, in my own way." He looked up to try and look Allura in the eyes. "I want to help you to form Voltron, I do, but as Keith says, that really is not an option available to us right now. But that being said, I can help in other ways. My planet would never turn down anyone in need of help, and I can assist you with finding allies or information, even supplies. But I can not be one of your paladins."

"Lance, do you know what you are offering?" Keith asked quietly, trying to make sure Lance knew what he was doing.

"Yes, and I realize the dangers of it, but I can not sit by while there is this much of a chance to help."

"Fine, then I want proof that we can trust you. You said earlier that prisoners are put in the arena. Are there other places that they could be sent? My brother and father were part of Shiro's team when he was taken by the Galra, I want to know what happened to them." Pidge interrupted.

"There are other places that your family could have been taken to yes, and I apologize for my people for such a tragedy befalling you, but if you ask us exactly where they could be, I can not tell you." Keith answered honestly. "There are too many variables. How they acted upon boarding, who sentenced them. There are many places all across the universe that a prisoner could have been sent to for any number of reasons. The Arena is simply the more popular choice for stronger prisoners, prisoners who refuse to follow orders, and for those that some generals think would prove entertaining in the ring. Others are sent off to work in mines in different solar systems, some are sent, sold, or traded to be trained as pets or slaves, others for breeding purposes depending on their race. I can not say for sure where your family could have ended up."

"What do you mean they could be pets?! They're human! Not dogs!" her happy curiosity was gone now, back was her anger and obvious dislike of them.

"It is all the same to a Galra, and once they have been properly trained they are sent out to any number of people for any reason at all. Several subjugated planets that have integrated into the Galra culture and higher up Galra officers and nobility go through many quite quickly."

"What kinds of _pets_ do your people train?" Pidge spat out the word 'pet' as if just saying it had left a bad taste in her mouth.

"It is best you not ask questions you do not wish to know the answers to." Lance offered. Trying to keep the girl's feelings in mind.

"I want to know." She insisted.

"If we are to be able to trust you, there can be no secrets." Allura tacked on bitterly. Lance cringed slightly, he didn't like keeping secrets, but the secrets that they were keeping were better kept to themselves, especially after Keith and Allura's argument, which, the Altean woman still didn't seem to be completely over.

"You will not like the answer." He mumbled half heartedly.

"Pets are trained for any number of reasons. The most common for a small species is pleasure pet, but there are others that are chosen to be family pets or to serve others with special needs. Pet is by far the better of most of the different sentences a prisoner could be given." Keith pushed on, knowing that if Lance seriously wanted to pursue this, that it would be best to just tell them what they wanted to know rather than watered down half truths.

"And, what does a pleasure pet do exactly?" Shiro asked this time, his face seeming to flush of all color as he adopted an almost guilty look.

"Exactly as it sounds, they are trained to give their masters pleasure in whatever way they wish. They are essentially sex slaves." The topic didn't seem to even phase Keith, but Lance still felt that ever present churn in the pit of his stomach whenever the topic of pets came up in conversation. He knew it was a thing the Galra did, but he did not support it. The entire idea of a person as a pet didn't sit well with him. Especially pleasure pets. Sure his people enjoyed sexual acts, but only when it was mutual. The idea of forcing someone who did not want or know otherwise - as was most often the case, usually having been given drugs to make them more compliant- into such an act made him physically sick. He had never quite understood how using a pleasure pet was different from being disloyal to one's mate either. It seemed hypocritical to him, but he chalked it up to another of those things he was just not meant to understand.

"WHAT?!" Pidge roared, making to lunge at Keith, but before she could do more than lean forward, her body seemed to be stuck in it's chair. Frozen almost. Her eyes were wild behind her glasses and her nostrils flared as she seethed at Keith. "Why can't I move?! What did you do to me?! You guys said you weren't a threat!" Try as she might though, none of her limbs would respond to her. Lance's eyes were blown wide in panic, his pupils dilated to the point where the blue in his irises was more a sliver of an outline than the calming pools of crystal clear water that Keith often associated them with. He had instinctively moved as close as he could get to Keith, his right hand completely stiff in his lap, wrist flicked up, and fingers splayed out open as his heart beat faster and faster. Keith blinked a few times, he hadn't known Lance had gotten so good at his blood bending to use it on such short notice. Though, he was completely rigid and Keith knew already that he was probably holding his breath as he always did when he was scared and had to use his abilities.

"Lance." He cooed softly, turning to face his fiancé, putting his hands to Lance's cheeks, his thumb rubbing softly just under his eyes. "Baby, breathe. Okay? Come on, in and out." he coached him slowly, taking a deep breath as he tried to get Lance to respond. "I'm okay, you can let her go." Lance still wasn't listening though. He could hardly hear anything over the sound of his own heart beat rattling away in his chest as if to the beat of some erratic song that even he couldn't hear.

"What is going on?!" Pidge shouted, obviously struggling with no longer being in control of her own body.

"Shh, if you want him to let you go, I need you to stop so I can calm him down." Keith tried to reason with the struggling teen. Though, it didn't seem to have the desired effect seeing as now Allura and Shiro both were freaking out.

"What has he done to her?"

"What is going on?" they both pestered before Keith snapped at them;

"Enough! I will explain in a moment, but for right now, before he makes himself pass out, I need you to be quiet!" He glared at them, waiting for both of them to nod in agreement before leveling a stern look on Pidge. "And you, stop shouting, and promise that once he releases you that you will remain where you are. He only did this because he felt you were threatening me."

"I was threatening you!"

"And as you can see, it did not quite work out too well for you, now did it?"

Pidge simply glared back at him and harrumphed. "Fine."

"Good." Keith turned his attention back to Lance and brought his hands back down to Lance's neck, rubbing sweetly at his gills again and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Lance, love, please just take a breath. I don't want you to make yourself pass out again." And slowly the group heard Lance take in a small, shaky gulp of air, his body quaking as he slowly let Pidge go and brought both his hands to his face, his eyes watering slightly.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled, shaking his head, leaning forward to bury his face in Keith's chest. "I thought she was going to hurt you." the small crack in his voice making Keith coil his arms around his almost mate and hold him tight, shushing him lightly, his protective instincts on high alert.

"It's okay, I am fine, you did well." He stroked up and down Lance's spine and let him stay there as long as he needed. A constant stream of apologies falling from his lips as he tried to get himself back under control. He knew that something like this was bound to happen when the only way his father would have Lance prove himself was by threatening him. It had helped him with his reflexes though it seemed. "You're faster at that now. Is that from training with my father?"

"She looked so angry. I was sure she would try to hurt you."

"And yet, I am fine. You let her go and she is still sitting in her seat across the room." He made sure to keep his voice low and calm, soothing him. "My love, look at me." Lance slowly brought his face up, away from Keith's chest, peeking out between his fingers, small beads of salty tears still clinging to his lashes and wet the spaces in between his fingers. "I am fine, you have nothing to worry about." He bent down to kiss Lance's forehead and smiled to him warmly. "You did so well." Keith reaffirmed. It took a few more ticks for him to calm down fully, and his eyes were red by the time he managed to pull himself up from Keith's chest to sit properly, but once he did he bowed his head slightly to Pidge and apologized.

"What was that?" She demanded in response. Lance averted his eyes once more, feeling guilty for over reacting.

"Lance's people have the ability to manipulate the waters of their planet, bending it to their will and using it for all sorts of purposes."

"That is common knowledge, but that does not explain what just happened between him and my green Paladin." Allura set her jaw in a stern frown and Keith simply nodded.

"I was getting to that. His people have such an ability, but Lance's affinity with water is much higher than that of a regular Prata Neptunian. He has the ability to bend nearly any liquid substance to his will, including blood."

"I just got Avatared?!" Pidge exclaimed, shocked. The others in the room, including Shiro giving her a confused look.

"I am, unfamiliar with this term, but essentially what happened was that Lance took momentary control of the blood inside your body making it so you could not move. I am afraid it is a learned response for when someone aims to attack me. My father has been forcing him to hone this ability since we've been engaged, and the way he usually tests it is by having someone attack me and making Lance stop them before I am hurt." Keith glanced over to Lance to make sure that he was still doing alright, offering him his hand when he still seemed skittish. Lance took it and squeezed it hard, his eyes clenching shut as he tried to ease the tension from his body, but the mention of Zarkon's tests flicked the switch for his heart to race once more. The pressure took Keith by surprise but he did nothing more than raise a quizzical brow at the other boy, silently asking if he was really going to be alright.

"That sounds horrible! What kind of parent would do that to their own child?" Allura gasped in horror. "Even a Galra should have more respect for their own children than to test someone in such a way!"

"I agree, and I do not enjoy using that technique, but I hate seeing Keith get hurt more than I dislike the invasive feeling of holding one's body hostage against their will." Lance muttered pointedly, his grip on Keith's hand releasing just slightly. But before anything more could be said on the matter, Hunk and Coran came back in with a plate full of snack foods. Hunk set the plate down on the small table in the middle of the room and took a seat on Lance's other side while Coran took a seat between Shiro and Allura.

"Woah, dudes, did you make him cry or something, why are Lance's eyes all red and puffy?" Hunk asked worriedly as he fussed over Lance, who honestly didn't know what to make of the attention.

"Him? I'm the one who got Avatared! Why are you fussing over him?"

"What do you mean?"

"He totally used blood bending on me!"

"... Did you deserve it? Because let's face it, you've been a little antagonistic, and I'd believe it if he thought it was in self defense."

"You'd take his side?!"

"She tried to lunge as me. Lance stopped her on instinct and then felt horrible about it." Keith cleared up easily. Hunk just nodded.

"See, I knew you did something to warrant it."

"That prick said that Matt and my dad could be out there as weird alien sex slaves! Of course I wanted to throttle him!"

"I told you you did not wish to know the answer." Lance's voice still cracked as he spoke, even though he seemed mostly back to normal. Coran handed him a pouch of water and one of the small little veggie cups that they had brought out with a small smile. He nodded his thanks and quickly downed the whole pouch of water. It tasted over filtered and slightly stale, but it was better than nothing. "But just because those are the most common does not mean that that is what happened. Your brother and father could be in one of the mines or possibly sold to a zoo, or something else."

"That isn't much better." Shiro again, his voice strained, he looked like he felt miserable too, and Lance really wanted to tell him that he at least knew Matt was okay, but it was too risky to tell anyone who could out him to the wrong people.

"Tell you what, if you two can find out where my father and my brother, Matt are being held, I'll trust you without a shadow of a doubt." Pidge huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "But trust doesn't equal respect or favor."

"Katie, that's blackmail." Shiro scolded.

"No, it's incentive."

"I don't know, the last time Voltron had a Galra involved with it, Altea was destroyed. I am sure that you are different from that Galra, but you are still Galra. He too pretended to be our friend, our ally, and then for no reason, he turned on us."

"Allura, there was more to that betrayal than you know, you can not hold that person's misdeeds against Keith. He had nothing to do with them."

"That may be, but he still has Galra blood flowing through him." At that Lance's head turned to glare at her.

"Excuse me Princess, but are you trying to say that my fiancé is the one who can not be trusted when clearly, it is your paladins that have tried to attack us numerous times? We have not raised a single finger against you without provocation, answered all the questions you have asked us honestly and to the fullest of our knowledge, and yet this is how you are treating us?"

"You also claimed not to be a threat, and withheld the information that you have the ability to control us against our wills." Allura countered.

"This is not new, Lance. I am used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be!"

"You know that is not true. My people have done horrible things to many different planets and cultures, torn apart families and destroyed homes. My blood is tainted, I can not change that. I understand why so many races instantly hate the Galra, it's a natural reaction after what he's done. I can live with it."

"Who your family and your people are is not who you are Keith, and I will tell you this as many times as I have to until you finally listen to me. You are not a soldier, you have not done any of these atrocities to anyone. You are my betrothed, you are my love, my protector. You are mine. And I say that your blood is clean."

"I wish it were that simple."

Lance sighed and stood from his spot, pulling Keith up with him. "We need a moment to ourselves." He announced as he pulled his sulking prince out the door with him and down the hall.

"We can't just let them roam the castle freely!" Pidge cried out angrily as she watched none of her teammates get up to stop them.

"No, I think we can." Hunk assured her as he leveled a disappointed look on Allura and Pidge. "Princess, you can't say things like that. Sure, we don't know Keith all that well, but not all Galra can be bad, it's a proven impossibility. And your blanket judgment is rude and wrong. Obviously this is something that they've had to deal with before, to the point where Lance doesn't feel comfortable talking him down in front of others." He scolded then turned his full attention to Pidge. "And you, they aren't our prisoners, they were chosen by the lions just as we were, they are potential paladins, you can't treat them like the enemy."

"They are the enemy! They said that they can't turn against the Galra Empire! They're still loyal to Zarkon!"

"Did you ever think maybe they're saying that because they don't feel welcome?"

"Lance did say he wanted to help in any other way he could …" Shiro offered weakly.

Allura was quiet while Hunk directed his outburst at Pidge but then spoke up when she felt she had the chance.

"He may not have personally destroyed my planet, but the man he pledges loyalty to did. I can not in good conscious place my trust in another Galra ever again. He is the enemy."

"Allura, Red is the pickiest lion to find a paladin for, are you sure that we can afford to chase them off? Blue will be upset at having to find someone else as well." Coran interjected softly. They had been waiting so long for the lions to return, and now, after all that talk of accepting anyone the lions chose, she was trying to push them away? They didn't have time to be picky. Red obviously thought Keith was good enough, and Allura trusted Red. That should have been enough.

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Notes:

Next chapter the boys make a final decision.

Good Grief Allura! And Pidge, whyyyy?

The girls were just overly mean, but both hold a pretty strong grudge.

Also, I know people were saying that Keith might be kinda Zuko-y, and while editing today FrostyTrish and I joked about who would be who in the A:TLA universe and yes, Keith would totally be Zuko. Lance is like a mix of Katara and Aang though, so that was a strange thing to think about. Like, I can totally get behind ZukAang, but the thought of Zutaraang was just too weird, we had a good laugh about that. And so decided to just keep him as Aang(if Katara ever taught him blood bending, which we then discussed how differently the fight between him and Ozai would have been if he had learned it), Allura was a better Katara anyway. She suggested Hunk be Toph, but let's face it, Hunk would be Iroh, and Pidge would be Toph. Shiro would probably be Suki, and I love the idea of Coran being Sokka.

(Normal Lance would be Sokka though, he'd totally try to come up with some version of "gaang" for team Voltron, probably only Hunk would say it was good, even though Keith would totally agree, he'd never say it out loud XD)

And yes, it kinda cuts off in the middle of their conversation, but I promise, that was intended and not just because it was getting too long XD

Also, there are hints at Matt's part, feel free to make guesses ;)

I promise when it gets around to that part, I will explain everything!

Until next time, as always, I love seeing your comments, I try to respond to all of them, if I don't then I'm super sorry and you have every right to yell at me!

~ Evi


	8. A Choice Must Be Made

Summary:

Choices are made, secrets are spilled, and trust is key.

Lance wants to trust these people, Keith still isn't convinced, but, Lance always has been better at reading people than he has. He'll just have to trust in Lance's trust in Hunk and Coran.

* * *

Notes:

First of all I want to say that I am SO SORRY for the long wait. I was not intending to take that long, specifically I would like to apologize to Maximilian K on Ao3, to whom I promised this chapter would be up a loooong time ago and I failed to deliver on that. My mom came down for a visit so I didn't get a chance to work on it for a week and then I had to work myself back into it and after finally getting back into the story to a point where I could work on it, I hit a wall. It was bad, I am so, so sorry. Hopefully I won't make you all wait that long again. But, on the upside, progress is made!

~ Evi

* * *

"My love, you are not your father. You are your own person." Lance told him simply once he had found a sufficiently secluded spot on the ship, far enough away from the others in the common room so that they couldn't be overheard, but close enough that they wouldn't get lost trying to get back. "What he does, does not define you. Only _your_ actions define who you are. You are not evil, you are not tainted, you are _my Keith_." Lance held Keith close to him as he spoke, resting his forehead on Keith's shoulder as his grip around the young Galra's middle tightened. Lance inhaled Keith's scent, his nose buried in the soft fur at the crook of his neck. He could hear Keith's heart pounding against his chest, could feel his blood coursing through his veins. He could sense the stress oozing off of him in waves as it locked his muscles up, preventing him from reacting to Lance's words. He knew that Keith was distraught. He knew Keith was used to other races hating him and judging him, had dealt with the discrimination for a long time, but this was different. Allura and Pidge weren't like those other disliked Keith because he was Galra and wouldn't listen to anything else. They didn't even trust him enough to leave them alone. Lance had heard Hunk speak up for them as they were leaving, and he had really wanted to hug him for it. Bless that boy.

"I can feel the blood flowing through your veins, it is not thick like tar, weighted down by evil deeds. It is not black like ink, soiled by devious thoughts. Nor is it contaminated in anyway by sins you have never committed. It is clean and vibrant, and light as water, because you have not done anything that those people have accused you of." Lance brought his hand up to guide Keith's sulking face to look at him as he stood straight again, his other arm still around Keith's waist. "My love, you are Prince Keith, of the Galra Empire, first in line for the throne, you should have more faith in yourself and more confidence to stand up to someone who soils your name. But if you come to lack those qualities, I will do it for you." Lance smiled.

"Lance, My father has-"

"Yes, your father has done a great deal to hurt an immeasurable amount of people, but that is him, not you. I am marrying you, not Zarkon."

"His blood is my own. How can you say that his blood is tainted and mine is not?"

"Because I know you, you would never do the things he has done, the things he will do, and is doing right now. _You are not him_." He paused, looking into Keith's conflicted golden eyes. It may have been hard to notice for someone not familiar with the Galra, but Lance could see the subtle fluctuation in the color, the way they seemed to dim just slightly as the light reflected differently off of them. "And if they can not see that, then I do not wish to be a part of them." Lance's blue eyes shone with all the love in his heart, with all the faith he had in his beloved. With every fiber of his being, Lance believed in Keith. Keith hesitantly replied with a small upward quirk of his lips, the motion causing a small crinkle at the corner of those eyes of molten gold. Lance gave his own back and leaned in to kiss him properly. Slow and careful, making sure that his frazzled fiancé could feel exactly how much Lance loved him. He pressed their lips together, soft at first, just a simple peck. Just enough for Keith to feel them, and then there was a little more pressure, followed by a curious tongue, and Keith was putty in Lance's hands. The stress washed away and he slumped just barely against Lance's chest. His head tilted automatically to the side for a better angle, his mouth opening without much thought on the matter, simply knowing he wanted to be closer to Lance. His tongue poked out hesitantly, prodding at Lance's lower lip, and the other opened his mouth, not needing any other reason than because Keith had asked. It stayed like that for only a couple ticks before Keith felt like himself again enough to assert more dominance. Lance smiled into the kiss, not minding giving Keith the control he wanted in the slightest. He could enjoy the affection either way, but, Keith, he knew, preferred to be be in charge, his Galra genes telling him to dominate, to not back down or submit to anyone. And Lance could get behind that one hundred percent. He relished the sweet, lingering feel of Keith's clawed fingers against his hips as his the other prince pulled them flush against each other. Lance could feel himself slipping, when Keith got like this, it was hard to feel anything but submissive. Hard not to simply melt against his soon to be mate.

His body reacted on it's own, and he could feel the changes taking hold. He felt the ripple of warmth course through him as his body shifted of it's own volition, nearly traitorous since he preferred keeping such intentions to submit so easily a secret from his near mate. His lips felt plumper against Keith's and his fingers were thinning. As they separated, before things could escalate too far, Lance felt Keith's eyes scan over his now very feminine body. Her hips were wider and her chest now sported a few more curves than it usually did. Her butt was just as firm, if not just a bit rounder and a little larger. Lance's eyes were softer under the longer, darker, more pronounced lashes that accompanied her female form. With the new proportions her waist looked thinner and her thighs felt a little thicker. She pouted at Keith, she wanted to keep kissing him. Telling him that he only needed to focus on her. But the real reason she had kissed him was to get him to stop freaking out, which, seemed to have worked. So, she would wait until later for that. Besides, it was best to stop things before they got heated. Lance wasn't good at impulse control, especially when she was aroused, but she did still remember that mating just yet was not allowed. Keith's eyes shown brightly as he looked her over. Lance had noticed early on in their time together that Keith always seemed to enjoy seeing her like this. He liked her male form, but even she had to admit that her female form was nothing short of stunning. Of course it was, it was still her after all.

"You shifted."

"I felt like it." Her voice was higher now, softer. Less of an edge to it, more like the steady song of a single crashing wave, ebbing and flowing against the beach rather than her usual timbre that was more like a tidal wave raging against a cliff face, wild and unabashed.

"I like watching you shift."

"It was not intentional this time. I am sorry you missed it." She smirked and then kissed his cheek once more. "Are you ready to go back?" Keith's shoulders squared as he stood straight once more.

"I believe so."

"Good." She smiled brighter and took Keith's fluffy purple hand in her own. The tan of her skin contrasting nicely with the Galra's soft purple fur. She lead them back into the common room and took their seats once more. She always felt more regal in her female form, something about the dainty hands and the softer features made her feel delicate. She felt like the princess she was supposed to be on Galra, the princess that her people didn't have most of the time. In her male form, she didn't feel that same responsibility. She could goof off or slouch when she sat. She could play pranks and tell dirty jokes or flirt openly. But in this form, in this body, she had an image to maintain. She was more self conscious. More willing to try and appease others. She knew, in the back of her mind, that both side of herself were one in the same. She could act just as she did when she was male while she was female, and vice versa, but the feeling of wrongness that sprouted in her gut when she did stopped her. Her male form wasn't ladylike. And that was fine. He didn't have to be the princess, he was the prince when he was like that.

But, as the princess, she had to remember her etiquette classes a little more closely so as not to offend other races. She had to be more diplomatic since it was the queen's responsibility to settle disputes. Since being promised to Keith she had been given classes on both her parent's responsibilities and on what the Galra expected of their princess. It made things harder, and it cut into her free time, but she understood it. Keith was Galra and male, on Prata Neptunia Lance would either have to make a choice of which role he wished to take, or would have to do both. It was one decision that Lance very much did not wish to make, yet it still hung over their heads. On Galra, when in her female form she was treated differently by the staff, and confused a great many other members of the castle. It was always funny watching someone new flounder around trying to grasp at what new title to use regardless of if she had shifted or not. Many still wanted to call her the prince when she shifted, and she had to actually tell most people that it was fine to address her as either the prince or princess, that she honestly didn't care. Thace and Matt both seemed to get it fairly quickly to the point that it wasn't really all that fun to surprise them with a sudden shift anymore. On Galra, regardless of which form she took she was instructed in the ways of the princess. She was the princess there, even when she was the prince. The empire already had five princes, they needed a princess. Which was where Lance fell. On Galra, it was her duty to one day give Keith kits of his own, and help him rule should he ever take his father's throne. His older half brother Lotor was not fit to be in such a position of power, being half Altean, and rather adverse to picking only a single mate - even if Lance himself did find Lotor quite pleasant company, to Keith's very apparent dismay. Keith's younger brothers; Theron, Zorin, and Nihier all had their own reasons for not taking a mate yet, and so, it was only Lance who could fill that void.

"You look very pretty like that, Lance." Hunk smiled, his brown eyes lighting up as they re-entered the room. Lance felt heat pool in her cheeks at the compliment, and smiled back pleasantly.

"Thank you. I wasn't really intending to change my form, but sometimes my body knows what I want before my brain does." She chuckled faintly as they took their seats once again on the couch. She pulled her shoulder length brown hair the rest of the way over her shoulder to rest against her chin, suppressing the small shiver of pleasure rushing down her spine as it brushed against her gills, her fingers absentmindedly playing with the soft strands.

"I apologize for before, sometimes my emotions get the better of me." Keith mumbled as way of an apology, adamantly looking anywhere but at the two girls still seated across from him.

"No, it's us that should apologize, things got a bit out of control and we were in the wrong." Shiro voiced from his seat, and Lance smiled at the strange little thumb up hand gesture Hunk directed the champion's way. She was very glad that not all of these strange humans were against them. She shook her head and looked over to him, making sure to look him straight in his steel colored eyes.

"We were both in the wrong. The Galra people have done a great many things wrong, but not all of them are as evil as most claim them to be. That being said, I should have reacted a little less" she paused, "hastily, I suppose." She took a small breath before continuing. "I am not used to such open animosity being directed at Keith or myself, and so it did not sit too well with me." She didn't turn her gaze when the smallest paladin scoffed at her. She didn't wish to address her any longer than she had to. Honestly, she wasn't sure how such a spiteful little thing was related to Matt, even if the resemblance was uncanny. While it was true that he was hesitant and guarded around new Galra or beings he did not fully trust, he never would have exploded into such raw and antagonistic emotions. She had known him for the better part of what he called a 'year' and she was willing to bet her tiara that he was still just as friendly before he had encountered the Galra as he was with her personally to date.

"So, did you make a choice?" Came the young woman's voice, the poorly masked bitterness staining her words twisted Lance's stomach into painful knots. Breathing deep, dragging air in through her nose and pushing it out through her gills to feel the thin skin flutter and calm her rising nerves once more, she finally turned to face Pidge and Allura for the first time since re-entering the room.

"We did. My offer of assistance is still open, despite how poorly you have treated my betrothed and I, but we can not agree to staying as paladins." Lance's sapphire eyes roved over Pidge's short flame colored hair, just the same as Matt's was when she had first found him in that dirty prison medical room. Now it was a bit longer, and Lance had to say that she liked it a bit better on the boy anyway. It framed his face nicely now. The pale flesh on Pidge's face was blotched with angry red in an ugly manner as Lance announced their decline. "We also can not accept your request to assist in locating your family." She spoke carefully, watching as the young woman's brown eyes narrowed behind the thick round glass of the contraption she wore on her face - glasses she reminded herself as the word came back to her. Matt had explained them to her a while back, that's right. Obviously, that was not the answer Pidge had been wanting, but it was the answer Lance had to give. Matt was too important to the cause to risk exposure, and neither Keith or herself had had any luck finding the boy's father yet either. She already knew that search was fruitless. If she were to find him, she would surely tell the paladins, but hinging their alliance on such a discovery was ill advised.

"I thought you wanted to help." The short woman spat, her teeth baring to them in a less than intimidating growl. Even Lance's people could vibrate their vocal cords in a more ferocious manner, and they never needed to. She took another deep breath, they didn't know who they were talking to, this little girl obviously was emotionally compromised in this sort of situation, she needed to keep her calm. Lance channeled every bit of the perfect diplomat that her mother had always trained her to be in that moment. She kept her posture straight, her nerves under lock and key, and her emotions in check as she nodded.

"I do wish to help, Pidge, but this is simply not a matter that we are able to assist with. If you need supplies or contact with other resistance groups, I am more than happy to help. If you need a place to stay and rest for a cycle or two, I will gladly find you lodging, but broadcasting across the universe that I am looking for two specific prisoners? Not only is that ridiculous, it's impossible. Not even the Galra keep that close of a tab on them, but it is also dangerous for us. We would be asked entirely too many questions at every step of the way, and then they would probably be moved and their information in the prisoner catalogue would change. The system that your family was put into once taken as a spoil of Zarkon's war is all numbers. There is nothing to differentiate one prisoner from another without physically going to these camps and looking each worker over personally. Which, I am unsure about your ability to do so, but neither Keith nor I have the ability or leisure for that." She settled her declaration with a pointed look that expressed that she would speak no more on the matter and hoped that it would translate into Pidge's native tongue well enough.

It looked to Lance as though she had wanted to say more, as she bunched her tiny little hands into the thick orange cuff of her green and white sleeves, sleeves attached to the outer layer of her clothing. If you could really call it that. All of these paladins were wearing something strange, they seemed close to how the Galra dressed when they decided to be casual, but even more frivolous and brightly colored. Pidge's top layer had a thick green and orange trimmed collar that she seemed to be trying to retreat into as Lance looked at her longer. The only things visible any longer were her narrowed eyes through the obstructing glass, and her hair, sporadic and messy, sticking up in all directions. Lance moved her gaze onto Allura, only slightly envious of the cascading white locks that sat flawlessly against her shoulders. But, she reminded herself, hair like that would only work for her female form and she still greatly preferred her male form to her current one at the moment. Maybe while they were expecting young she would grow it out for a bit?

Allura was looking directly at her and Lance knew she was sizing her up. She looked her up and down, starting with a scrutinizing gaze upon her sweeping baby blue robe and flared, white sleeves that went down to her elbows. Her sleeves were embroidered with sparkling gold scroll up her arms and down the bodice in intricate floral patterns that almost emulated waves. The scroll reached across Lance's chest and back before fading at her waist. The lower the fabric fell from Lance's hips, just under the darker golden sash cinching the fabric closer to her body at her waist, the darker blue it bled into. All the way down to a deep, royal blue pooling at her feet. Only the tips of her gold slippers were visible below her robe. Lance's attire was not dissimilar to Allura's own in her opinion, and so ignored the judgmental stare down she was receiving from the other princess. As princess she had to be more attentive. _'A princess must always be observant Lance, the King will take care of the overt issues, but as Keith's queen, you will be expected to handle the more subtle problems. And always remember to be tactful when meeting new people. Take account of everything from your surroundings to what they are wearing. You can tell much about a person from what and who they surround themselves with, my child.'_ was something that she had heard many a time from his mother, and by now, it was ingrained into her very being every time she shifted. And so, Lance did, she settled her gaze on Allura's figure and gave her the very same once over that she had just received.

The Altean woman wore similar shades of blue, white, and gold throughout her own gown. The garment itself hugged her frame much more snugly than Lance's own- though when she had dressed that morning, she had been male, and this robe was quite flattering in that form, if not a tad tighter in some places in this one. On her shoulders was a small pale dark blue half cape on top of white sleeves and a bodice of the same shade of blue. Her accents were Gold and the inside of her cape, pink, as well as the hem of her gown. Allura's dress screamed of elegance and tastefully whispered of her position in high society as a princess while Lance's did her absolutely no favors in that same department. She had been dressing to blend _in_ with the crowds of her people that day, not to _address_ a crowd in a public speech, or entertain other ladies of her mother's court. But she supposed that was for the best in this case, even if it did irk her seeing Allura eyeing her as if she was common scum on the side of the road of a third class planet.

"Then I see no reason for you to stay here any longer." The other princess finally voiced, her tone clipped and strained for pleasantry. Lance felt the same, but also hesitated to ask how she expected them to get home from so far away.

"Allura!" Hunk exclaimed, coming to their rescue again. "We can't just-"

"They declined our invitation, there is nothing left to do, Hunk."

"What invitation? You've been chasing them off ever since Keith came out of the Red lion!" the larger boy sounded exasperated.

"The lions chose them, if they had decided to stay I would have allowed it. True, I would have been uncomfortable and distrusting for some time, but I would have also been understanding."

"I don't believe that for a second." Hunk muttered before standing up and reaching a black gloved hand out to Lance, offering to help her up. She smiled and took the offered appendage, accepting the gesture. Nodding her thanks, and giving a quiet affirmation of her gratitude, she rose to her feet with Hunk's help. Coran stood too and took the plate of food that had remained relatively untouched since their arrival and the two lead both herself and Keith out of the room quietly.

"I apologize on Allura's behalf." Coran finally spoke up after they had been directed to the bridge of the large ship, setting the platter down. "She is usually not so," he made a few wild gestures with his hands, and Lance could sort of understand what he was trying to say. "Please, do not hold it against her. The Galra's betrayal is simply still fresh in our minds. To the universe as a whole Altea was destroyed ten thousand periods ago, to us, who were just awoken from cryogenic sleep a few cycles ago, it was very recent. She is still processing how to feel. Now, I am not saying that that excuses her behavior, but I do hope it makes it a little more understandable." Coran gave a small strained smile as he glanced back towards the door. Lance nodded. She did understand, but forgiving her would take a bit longer.

"And I want to apologize for Pidge, she's just a little passionate and sometimes she puts that passion into the wrong things. She's just worried." Hunk sighed, scratching the back of his head as he glanced around the room. "So now, I guess the problem is how to get you home."

"I assume the same way we were brought here is out of the question?" Keith asked. He sounded tired and done with everything, and Lance couldn't help but empathize.

"Well, we can't send you in one of the lions, but we could give you a pod and open another wormhole. Is there anyone you will need to contact beforehand?" Coran asked, his tone picking back up into the cheerful state it had been when they had first arrived. Lance picked up one of the little veggie snacks and took a bite, chewing it as she considered her options. Calling home to tell her parents that she and Keith were okay was probably a good idea, but if they didn't know yet, then it would also cause unnecessary panic. Her parents probably hadn't alerted Zarkon yet either. She knew that they liked interacting with the Galra emperor as little as possible, and, calling to tell him that they had lost his son probably wouldn't go over too well. She swallowed the bite and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Should we contact The Blade to set up an alliance before we go? Or do you think that would be easier done on the other side?" Lance asked carefully as she turned to Keith, wishing for his input.

"It could go either way, an incoming transmission from an unidentified signal might not be answered right away, and even if it is, you know who is most likely to pick up said transmission and it might cause more problems than solve them."

"True, but making an outgoing transmission to a new signal might be harder to conceal? I suppose we could try to reach the base directly?"

"That won't matter, the lieutenant is in charge of contacting agents and third party alliances, that's why he needed help. We'd be back to quadrant one." Keith made good points, and normally it wouldn't matter, but upon knowing who was on this crew, contacting their spies would be a lot harder. Lance sighed.

"Could you send us with your contact codes so that we can have someone from The Blade get in touch with you directly once we figure this out. Or, at least so that we can send you a code for who to call later on." She smiled.

"What is this "Blade" you keep talking about?" Hunk asked carefully.

"The Blade of Marmora. They are an all Galra resistance group, but they are always looking for others to help in their cause. We have contacts spread throughout the empire. Many are in positions of power and have to be careful of who they speak to, but the majority of them are spread through the galaxies on bases trying to do what they can to sabotage Zarkon's plans." Lance paused for a moment, looking down, then flitting her gaze to the left to survey the endless expanse of space through the main window before returning her attention to Coran and Hunk in front of her. "I believe if your princess could look past _what_ one is, to see _who_ they are, you might find a decent red or blue Paladin with them. I can make no promises, but they would be willing to try should you extend the offer." She finished.

"The Galra of the Blade wish Zarkon out of power just as much as you all do. Perhaps even more." Keith offered. "We don't want the universe to fear us, or see us as evil. It is time for change, but there is only so much that can be done from our side." He lowered his gaze, wringing his hands together nervously. "There is only so much that Lance and I can do."

"You are his son, aren't you?" Coran spoke quietly. A small smile of bitter understanding crossing his lips. Keith went rigid, his fur standing on end, and Lance froze, her eyes narrowing in a sidelong wince as she tried to avoid looking at either of their tentative new friends. It was all the reaction the Altean man needed. Keith's golden eyes lowered in defeat as he looked away.

"I am sorry, but you must understand why we never said-" Keith started, his voice wavering slightly with the fear of being outed to people who obviously had ill intentions for his family.

"Of course I understand." Coran hurriedly interjected, his hands coming up to rest on Keith's shoulders.

"I wouldn't have said anything to us either if I were in your guy's shoes." Hunk offered with a reassuring smile. He grabbed Lance's hand, causing her to look back up to him. "We won't tell the others, this can stay between us for as long as you want it to."

"You would risk such secrets tearing your team apart for us?" She whispered disbelievingly.

"Of course, it's obvious that you want to help, and being the Galra and Prata Neptunian Princes would of course make it difficult to act on any rebellious ideals." Coran answered and Lance felt relief flood her body. A quick look over to Keith showed that he was feeling just the same.

"That's why you can't help Pidge find her family, huh?" Hunk asked quietly. Lance took a deep breath. If they could keep this secret, then what was one more?

"That …" She started hesitantly, "would only be half the reason."

"Lance." Keith's voice sounded worried and she spared his a smile before she continued. "My love, if they are willing to keep who we are from their friends, then it is only fair that we be honest with them." Lance turned her attention back to Hunk and closing her eyes, she took one more calming breath; In through her nose and out through her gills. When she opened them again her eyes were steadied hard on the yellow paladin, determination shining through the pools of deep blue. "We can not help because we can not risk the extraction of Matthew Holt. He is working with the Blade of Marmora as a personal valet to Lieutenant Thace. I personally put him in this position as a way to save his life, and having anyone or anything endanger his position would cause countless lives lost. He is in charge of delivering messages all across the universe and within Zarkon's own private ship." she took a moment to wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and let the new information sink in. "We have been searching for Samuel Holt for quite some time already, and in our positions we can not overtly devote too much energy to it, but even with our many sources, even we can not locate him. There is still the possibility that he is alive, however slim it may be, but we do not know where. We answered Pidge honestly. It is a fruitless search. We know, because we are still trying, even after a full period."

"So you lied about Matt because you knew if you told Pidge, she wouldn't listen and still want to go rescue him." Hunk summarized. Lance nodded.

"Not that he needs "rescuing" in the slightest. He is possibly the safest he could be where he is. Because of the nature of which he was brought on for the lieutenant, no one questions anything he does, so he moves freely. Also, he is a personal friend of mine. I may not have the same sway Keith does while on Glara or aboard one of his father's ships, but I have enough that I can keep Matt safe."

"You said you put him in that position, how?" Coran asked, appearing fascinated.

"Back when the Champion, Shiro, was first introduced into to the arena, Keith and I had been requested to attend the fights, as we often are." She winced slightly while recalling the violent behavior she had been forced to watch on many occasions. "We had been walking through the tunnels just before the prisoners were to be brought through, and I ended up getting separated from him." She paused to make sure they were still keeping up with her story. A quick nod from Hunk urging her on confirmed that they were.

"In my time away from him I stumbled upon a creature of a race I did not recognize being treated for a wound on their leg. This creature was Matthew Holt. I had been working on the practical applications of healing with my water manipulations. -Simply put you infuse your quintessence with that of the water's and then try to resonate it with the being that you are trying to heal.- The shamans of my people are quite gifted at it, and it was believed that with my abilities, I might be able to use this power as well. Finding water on Galra is difficult at best, so when I found the arena physician working on him, I saw it as my chance to practice something that was not blood manipulation. An opportunity that I quickly jumped at. We spoke while I worked, and I quickly grew fond of this being, this human. I did not want to see him sent back to the pits or off to a work camp, so I did what I could. I asked Thace to take him on. He had been looking for help, someone he could trust. And a personal valet who agreed with his vision and could follow orders was the best option. Matthew agreed to help and has now become indispensable to the cause." Hunk and Coran both smiled by the end of Lance's explanation.

"So he's safe then." Hunk affirmed with a relieved breath.

"Yes, and I promise that I would never let anything happen to him." Hunk squeezed Lance's hand lightly in quiet thanks as he smiled at her statement before letting the appendage go.

"A sentiment that the Blade also backs, if he is ever in danger the Blade would sooner risk their own men to save him than let him be captured or killed. They need him." Keith tacked on.

"That's all we needed to know. I'll try to help keep Pidge in check, if she ends up getting close to something I'll be sure to warn you." Hunk's smile was bright and it lit up his face all the way to his eyes.

"Here, we will give you this communications device in case you wish to get a hold of us for any reason." Coran turned and opened a small drawer from under his workstation, pulling a small egg shaped device that was flat on one side, and rounded on the other, handing it over to Keith. "If you need anything, please, do not hesitate to contact us. Hunk and I will gladly do whatever we can to help." the man's smile was contagious and soon even Keith was smiling back as he took the offered communications device.

"Thank you, we will. And if you need anything we will do our best to help as well. Though, I can not guarantee that we will always be in a position to answer right away."

"That won't be a problem at all, should you not answer, this device will record up to three previous transmissions and a small blue light will flash on the flat side to alert you of such stored data. Simply wave your hand over the light and it will play the message." Coran demonstrated as he instructed with another of the small devices, showing them how to activate it and make transmissions and the like. "As long as you hold the device in your hand it will be active until you set it down again, making terminating a connection fast and easy should you be interrupted." Coran smiled, bringing his small lecture to an end. Keith still seemed hesitant, but showed signs of warming up to the strange man the longer they spoke. Lance was hopeful that she had made the right decision of trusting these two with such sensitive information, but if they were to work together, they needed at least some show of good faith. Even if it could only be shared with a few of team Voltron's members. They made their way down to the hangar bay and Hunk guided Keith over to one of the sleek white pods while Lance hung back with Coran a little longer.

"If it becomes an issue, you can tell the others about us and we will understand, even if it means that Princess Allura and Pidge will demand we no longer be allies. Though, if Matt's position is endangered, please do stress to them that an extraction will only serve to put him in far more danger than he would even have been in in otherwise." She knew it had already been said, but felt the need to stress the point anyway. "I have a few ideas on who could be possible replacements for us, but I do not know if they will agree or not."

"Princess, I'm sure whatever help you can give us will be more than welcome. You are already doing more than we ever could have asked of you." Coran smiled, patting her shoulder and Lance felt her chest swell. It was the first time since being on this ship that anyone had addressed her properly, and while she usually had to beg people to drop the formalities, in this case, it helped to put her at ease. She smiled back gave a small half bow, nodding her head to him.

"I couldn't stand by after such an offer as this and not extend my hand. I only wish that I could do more. But as it stands, if there were ever anything tying Prata Neptunia to any sort of rebellion or uprising of some sort, it could have devastating repercussions."

"That's understandable, given your position I'm surprised that you are even doing this much. Zarkon himself must be keeping a pretty strict eye on you."

"He does, but I do have a few of his men wrapped around my little finger." Lance smiled, a small fluttering chuckle slipping past her lips as she held up one of her slender pinkies between them. "I have become quite close with several of the palace guards and other personnel that usually would report directly to Zarkon in the many periods that I have been engaged to Keith. Originally it was only so that I would feel a bit better about being in the palace alone when Keith was needed elsewhere, but in the end, I made many friends."

"Well I would assume that you are much more likable that their average company." Coran joked, punctuated by a spirited laugh that served to make the older Altean sound much younger than Lance assumed he was.

"I would like to assume that is true, yes." She chuckled, her hand coming up to cover her mouth on reflex.

"What are you two laughing about over there?" Hunk asked, his tone feigned stern, but the smile on his lips gave him away as soon as Lance turned her attention to him.

"Nothing much, I assure you." She waved him off, the smile never leaving her lips.

"Oh yes, I'm sure the guards find her much more preferable. What with constantly sneaking out past curfew, or flirting with literally anything that moves-"

"Only if they have a pretty face, and simply for the attention, you know what I'm used to back home, on Galra I have to get creative." Lance shrugged as she interrupted Keith's interjection, her tone rising to something that Hunk might have called teasing, as her eyes dropped to then inspect her left hand; inspecting her nails and brushing at the fine, soft scales that coated her flesh. Not that it lasted long, she soon looked up with a playful smirk when Keith gave a small disgruntled huff before opening the pod hatch and getting into the driver's seat.

"Just get in so we can go home."

"Eager to see how much trouble we're going to be in?" Lance teased as she strolled over the the two boys, giving Hunk one last smile as she entered the vessel as well.

"With any luck, my father hasn't been informed yet, and your parents are keeping this quiet for a bit longer."

"I am certain they did not wish to make that call; _'Yes, Emperor Zarkon? We regret to inform you that both our sons are missing, stolen right out from under the sea, and have no clues as to who could have been behind it, where said assailant could be hiding, or if either of them are even still alive. We do hope this doesn't put a damper on our previous agreement of peace though.'_ Lance imitated her father as he would have made such a call and the two of them shared a small laugh while Hunk and Coran turned an off shade of white at the implications.

"I really hope nothing bad happened back home for you guys because of us." Hunk offered weakly, only to have Lance wave him off.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, please, do not worry. Whatever happens, we can handle it."

"If you say so."

"I do." She paused then, looking the interior of the pod over more closely before speaking up again. "How well will this pod handle being submerged underwater? If we are to return to the palace undetected we will have to use the tunnels, which, are all flooded." She looked up to Coran, expectantly.

"If you engage the shields it should be fine, as long as no water enters the cabin it will remain in working order." came the bubbly man's response. Lance nodded. She could do that. Just as she opened her mouth next to speak Keith beat her to it.

"No." He simply stated.

"No? You don't even know what I was going to say." She pouted.

"Yes I do, you were going to suggest that I let you pilot, and I still wish to return to the palace alive thank you very much, so the answer is no."

"I am not that bad of a pilot."

"You're still not a good pilot either." Keith finished the argument, reaching over and fastening Lance's safety harness for her before he offered his final good-byes and flew them out of the spacious hangar. Not long after they had left the ship and exited Arus' atmosphere, a wormhole appeared in front of them, just as they had been offered. They could go home. Hopefully they hadn't left too much of a mess.

* * *

Notes:

Who all guessed correctly about Matt? I wanna know, even if you didn't get it completely right, I would still love to hear what you all had in mind anyway haha

This was option two by the way, another option that I had played with for a while was actually having Matt being brought into the palace to be trained as a pleasure pet. Lance and Keith finding him after leaving the castle of Lions on their next trip back to Galra, and Lance thinking that he looked an awful lot like Pidge, makes a scene and insists that he wants Matt for himself, even going so far as to say that he wants to train him himself when it's made clear that Matt isn't on the market yet due to being so new. Keith wasn't going to be too on board with the idea, or really notice the similarities to Pidge at first, but he does like spoiling Lance, and so would have done it anyway, and drama ensued that way. But this way, Matt is in a bit of a safer position and has a bit more freedom to move around. (and has a better first impression of Lance and Keith and more easily trusts them)

Anyway, this chapter is a bit longer than some of the others, but there was a lot I wanted to get across.

I really hope the switch in pronouns for Lance from he/him to she/her wasn't too distracting or disorienting at all. (if I missed one, tell me and I'll fix it, I went through and tried to keep everything consistent, but even in my head I sometimes mix them up since I'm more used to writing Lance as he/him)

One thing I hope was clear was the subtle changes that Lance goes through mentally when he shifted. I want to point out that while Prata Neptunia doesn't have specific gender roles, Lance doesn't really have that same luxury. He's an only child, betrothed to a prince of another planet. He can still be King, but he is also expected to be the princess. He has rules and roles both on Galra and his planet now that he has to fill that Keith can't, so he has to learn both how to be the prince, and the princess. To which point, he has made it so when he shifts, it's an unconscious change in attitude. She is still Lance, but she is now Princess Lance, not prince Lance, and so has other duties and responsibilities to attend to, and other personality traits born of other requirements. Some of which, being that female Lance is more attentive to detail and more willing to hold her tongue. While Lance is a pacifist in both forms, in her female form she is more likely to try harder to keep a placating tone and keep things from escalating as best she can. Prince Lance doesn't mind the occasional screaming match, and is more likely to speak up and say what's on his mind than princess Lance. I tried to address that as best I could, but I'm unsure how it came across. If it worked tell me, if it didn't let me know and I will probably try to elaborate later.

~ Evi


End file.
